An account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time.
What follows is a harrowing celebration of the human spirit and the will to survive. McGregor has rarely been better, Holland is terrific as the tenacious Lucas and Watts invests her character with stoicism and selfless heroism.
This film is not especially complex, and not subtle, but there is judgment and intelligence in the simple idea of survival being the most agonising thing, and making survivor guilt the psychological aftershock of a shattering and irreparable blow.
Technically flawless The Impossible is a film with a raw emotional wallop that will move even the hardest heart.
Sadly unimaginative.
It’s certainly a difficult watch but anything less would have felt wrong.
The forward thrust of The Impossible is universal, in particular the desperate fight for survival and a family bond that starts off feeling a little by rote, then gains strength and poignancy. And at its most primal, this wallop of disaster seems sincere, not cynical.
You can take issue with its overly Anglicised approach to an international tragedy, but there’s no denying that this rousing, superbly acted, no-holds-barred melodrama is a mighty feat of physical filmmaking.
Despite dramatic visuals of the sodden aftermath being a powerful image of the suffering inflicted the storyline doesn’t quite have the substance to support it.
The lack of compassion for the unseen millions left behind just seems staggering, true story or not.
As realistic as it looks, something about the film is all wrong: it isn't just that it somehow engineers a happy ending; it's that a future audience could watch the film, never realising that the disaster hit anyone but holidaying, well-off, white people.
The Impossible seems complacent, all the same, and even a bit heartless in its salute to one family of white Western tourists. It's much easier to never say die when your privileged status has secured access to medical help and enormous slices of luck.
Kind of offensive when you think about it.
The film is well acted, the makeup convincing, the turbulent mise en scène impeccable. We are immersed in the immediate experience of the tsunami, but its larger context and its consequences are ignored.
Not an easy watch at times, but a memorable one.
While The Impossible is undoubtedly the sort of picture that many will be impressed by, there’s not much to it. No subplots or underlying message, just a straightforward tale about a family who get separated by a disaster on holiday. That’s it.
Director Juan Antonio Bayona discusses tsunami drama The Impossible
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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