The Impossible (Juan Antonio Bayona, 2012): Spain & USA

Reviewed by Yuichi K. Viewed at Grauman’s Theater, AFI Fest 2012

Can you imagine roaring water, screaming people, and drifting buildings rapidly coming like a wall? The impossible, directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, talks about this extreme tsunami attack in Thailand in 2004.

Henry, Ewan McGregor, and Maria, Naomi Watts, decides to celebrate and stay their winter vacation at the resort hotel in Thailand with their children. Their flight is cleanly landed at the airport, and they go to their hotel. They spend happy moments near the peaceful scenic white sand beach, and the Happy Christmas morning comes to them. Naturally, they don’t know about the tragedy that caused by the huge tsunami coming from the gentle Indian Ocean.

The computer graphics realize these extreme situations very much. The scenes the tsunami attacks the resort hotel, and people are surprisingly involved are amazingly natural. Audiences, fantastically, can feel the audio and visual together like the characters. As if the fresh images arouse the memories of people who suffered from the real tsunami in 2004. According to the conversation after the showing, the visual images are not only by the graphics, but have used some real footage for the layered visual effects. They are just the dints of the effort.

The story developing is also remarkable. Normally, the plots of the films are across each other, and they try to indicate multiple stories at once. However, this film separately lays two different plots for Maria and Henry after the tsunami attacks. Therefore, the audiences watch each long plot by force, and always concern about the family members who are not on the plots with their anxieties. This makes the scene which all members of the family, finally, get together more and more impressive.

This father, Harris, is by Ewan McGregor, who is well known with “Moulin Rouge!” and “The Ghost Writer,” and mother, Maria, is by Naomi Watts, who is also well known with “21 Gram.” Lucas, who remarkably leads this story, is by Tom Holland, a new generation from England. Juan Antonio Bayona, the director, is known with “The Orphanage.”

When the family separates by force, the anxieties prevent everything. How important that people calmly behave for the situation? Audiences can learn from this film. It’s a chance to rethink about the meanings of own family.