Emotional journey

A TOURIST family caught in one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit South East Asia … I was sceptical.

But this true story swept me away and had me swimming in a deluge tears in most parts if not throughout.

The Impossible doesn’t only give you an account of what happened during the 2004 tsunami, it allows the viewer to experience the emotional struggles, decisions and pain the characters had to go through.

The flm is a visual success that was reinforced by the intensity the actors brought to the characters. The viewer isn’t just introduced to the family but becomes of one of them, feeling, seeing and tasting everything that they suffer.

The flm starts with picturesque scenes and sounds of the calm Indian Ocean which is quickly interrupted by the loud roar of a plane landing, setting the pace of the sense of urgency that prevails throughout the entire movie.

This plane lands in Thailand where the Bennetts arrive to spend their Christmas break. The family is made up of dad Henry (McGregor) who works for a big company in Japan, Maria (Watts) a stay-at-home mum and trained doctor who looks after her three sons, Lucas (Holland), Thomas (Samuel Joslin) and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast).

After checking-in to the newly-opened beachfront resort they sit by the pool and relax. They enjoy their Christmas dinner and follow it up by lighting the Japanese lanterns that fy away by the, then, tranquil sea.

However, on Boxing Day, when the family members are enjoying a relaxing day - Maria is talking about getting back into working, Henry is discussing the uncertainty of his job and the boys are playing in the pool – a clamour of birds distance ... a huge oncoming wave.

Maria endures the horror of watching Lucas, the eldest of the boys, get struck frst while her husband grabs tightly onto the two younger boys.

The resulting re-enactment is spectacular in the extreme and shows a very realistic view of what happened that day: brown water, screams, cars, people, houses, detritus and foliage are swept up in the chaos. Finally, Maria is left clasping onto a tree and suddenly spots Lucas being swept past her ... alive. Her maternal instinct results in her letting go and following him with the current, getting scratched, beaten and battered along the way … and when the wave subsides mother and son are left bloody and tattered in each other’s arms with Henry, Thomas and Simon nowhere to be seen.

The two push their way waist deep through a ruined landscape unsure of where to go. Maria is badly hurt with faps of skin hanging off her leg and is attended to after natives come to the rescue, dropping her and Lucas off at a hospital.

Those affected are coughing up black muck, bleeding all over the foor, frantically looking for loved ones - but for Lucas, his only priority is to help his mother who could be dying from her chest puncture or infection in her leg.

Not knowing whether Henry and the boys (who, without giving away too much of the plot, have their own heart-wrenching tribulations) are still out there, Maria clings on to life for the sake of Lucas.

Lucas tries to help families fnd loved ones whilst at the same time looking for his own. And, for those who know the story, you may, as I did, think you know how it all ends … but you will be happily proved wrong as the story provides more suspense than expected.

Although the real family - the Belons - are Spanish, the director, Juan Antonio Bayona, known for The Orphanage, swaps the dark-haired Europeans for blonde-haired Brits, immediately giving the sense that the story focuses on a small segment of the victim pool – but with the pace of the movie, no one would have taken that into account.

Young Holland was truly remarkable as Lucas. Most of the movie rests on him and he successfully pulls off the part of a boy struggling to become the parent and dealing with all the responsibility and emotional pressure very well.

In addition, Watts portrayed a type of tenderness and terror that will touch every viewer … it is no wonder she has been nominated six times for Best Actress awards for her role.

The truly emotional parts come from the simplest scenes. From a phone conversation, a son almost retching at the sight of his mother, the awkward kind gestures to the fnal reunion of the family, Bayona pulls at every heart string. He delivers and creates an emotional journey and crafts a forceful flm about survival that will, at times, leave you underwater, covered in flth and fghting for your breath.

*Showing in Cineco, Seef I, Saar Cineplex