The year is 2004. Parents Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry (Ewan McGregor) and sons Lucas (Tom Holland), Thomas (Samuel Joslin) and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast) are spending their Christmas vacation at a brand new resort in Thailand when, on the morning of December 26th while enjoying each others’ company by the pool, the ground starts rumbling and a massive tsunami forces its way across the land, destroying everything in its path. Upon impact, the family is separated with half the film focusing on Maria clinging to her life and her eldest son Lucas trying to help her survive while the other half focuses on Henry and his two sons desperately trying to track down his wife and Lucas.
Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible isn’t light by any means. It’s a heavy hitter full of eye watering moments, a rollercoaster ride of emotions mostly focused on the lower tier of despair, loss and depression, and, like the title suggests, makes it nearly impossible for you to not care about the characters on screen. For some, the sight of the tsunami scene, which takes place 10 minutes into the film, will be enough to set them off as the catastrophic event is still fresh in the minds of its victims. For others, the dramatic weight the film has and the intense delivery of the applaud-worthy performances by its leads is enough to bring you down for a while, but don’t shiver at that thought because Bayona’s film is a solid piece of cinema. Though naturally depressing, this is really a story of hope, love and survival and, as a result, it makes the picture ultimately uplifting which might seem very odd for the subject matter.
Much like the tsunami disaster scene in Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, the incredible force of nature that we witness on screen in Bayona’s film is just as gasp inducing and technically better looking. The film is relentless in its honest portrayal of what happens when an event like this occurs, and luckily for the audience we know the movie isn’t going to hold itself back when we see a gory close-up of Naomi Watt’s calf ripped open and flapping around…and that’s just one of her horrific wounds. It doesn’t paint a pretty picture of the events and displaced people, which it shouldn’t anyway, but thankfully the horror and devastation is delivered in good, sobering taste that gets you as close to the catastrophe as possible without actually being there.
The Impossible is a movie that screams Oscar contention and there is no doubt in my mind that we might see Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor up for supporting roles, maybe a lead for Watts. While I don’t think Ewan will take the award away, it’ll be hard to imagine anyone else winning after seeing the scene in which 
he breaks down crying on the phone after finally getting in touch with someone in the UK for the first time since being separated from his family. Tom Holland on the other hand does an excellent job as well, transforming from a spoiled, obnoxious kid into a mature youngster trying to help out parents who have lost their children as he anxiously waits for his mother to go into surgery.
It may seem like a cliché piece of cinema that you would expect Hollywood to churn out but the delightfully surprising part about the film is that it is based on a true story, the main difference being that the family portrayed in the feature was Spanish, not English.
Overall, The Impossible left an impact on me and nearly brought tears to my eyes, especially when I imagined my reaction if my family went through that hellish experience. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as first date material but if you’re been seeing someone for a while it’s one your partner might need comforting both during and after the screening. If you have the chance to give it a watch and can muster up the courage to sit through very heavy drama than The Impossible is most certainly worthy of your time.
Rating: A somber heavy hitter with award worthy performances that tastefully pulls no punches (7/10)
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