The Impossible - 2012 - Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona
I still remember where I was on December 26th, 2004. Me and my wife were visiting her family for the holidays and while we were enjoying food, presents and the company of our family I would occasionally refresh the page on the internet and each time it seemed the death toll of the Indian Ocean Tsunami would rise by the thousands. Sometimes, unless you have a human face to attach to a tragedy, you can forget what happened.
Director J.A. Bayona has given us that and in the process has made an emotionally heartbreaking film.
Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor star as a happily married couple who are spending the holidays with their kids in Thailand, enjoying the scenery, when the unthinkable happens. As they are poolside at their hotel, a tsunami hits and rushes at them while they attempt to protect their kids and themselves. What would seem unimaginable as just happened and now comes the impossible, how to survive.
I didn't think it was possible for this tragedy to be filmed as it would take incredibly life-like special effects along with a cast to handle the heavy emotional lifting. Everyone has brought their A game. The devastating scene of the tsunami was filmed in a water tank in Spain but you would never know. It appears to almost be actual news footage of the tragedy.
As the Oscar campaign has revved up I am stumped to why Naomi Watts is not getting more love for her intensely fierce portrayal of a mom trying to hold it together for her kids and her husband. She commands every second of every frame she is in and it is a beautiful performance.
The Impossible is one of the best movies of 2012.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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