Christianity Today

Some movies pride themselves on being reminders—especially during the holiday season. It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, and even Home Alone serve as refresh buttons, clearing out our brains and rejuvenating our awareness about how the importance of family, life, and love—and usually doing so softly, gently, and with a mother's care. The Impossible may take place around Christmastime but it is no Christmas movie in any traditional sense. And though it causes us to remember the themes above, it does so not with a caress but with furious intensity.

What started as a joyful family vacation quickly turned terrifying

In 2004, Henry (Ewan McGregor) and Maria (Naomi Watts) take their three young boys to Thailand for Christmas. Lucas (Tom Holland) is just on the edge of puberty, so he's starting to get an idea of his parents' flawed humanity, while Thomas (Samuel Joslin) and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast) are younger, and more innocent. They arrive at a resort and partake in some small enjoyments until disaster strikes the day after Christmas. A tsunami slams into the Thailand coastline and separates the family, ultimately killing over five thousand people and leaving more than a thousand orphans in one fell swoop. Lucas ends up with his mom, the other two boys with their father. The rest of the film consists of the family trying to find each other again.

The Impossible is based on a true story in the lives of a real-life Spanish family. Director J.A. Bayona goes to great lengths to depict the harsh reality of what happened on December 26, 2004 as well as its aftermath. It's the catastrophe itself that is most impressive in terms of filming here. The sequences of water rushing and particularly of Watts being dragged undersea and above again, all the while beaten by debris, are among the movie's most visually stunning.

At times, the score can modulate into a Hitchcock-esque emphasis on anxiety-inducing strings, making you question whether you're watching a family drama or a horror movie. In many ways, it's both. Never does the film venture into elements of sensationalized terror, but Bayona seeks to highlight how horrifying this situation would be for a separated family. Scenes of grotesque injury are not played for shock but for the viewer to be faced with the painful realities of the aftermath.

Perhaps most inspiring is how all characters try to manage their own injuries and panic in order to help others. In the hospital where his mother is staying, Lucas rushes around to assist other families reunite, and a Frenchman lets Henry use his dying cellphone to place a call to his family. The Impossible has no truck with nihilistic, self-centered views of human nature. There is enough decency or perhaps even God's image in the common man to turn a disaster of this level into an opportunity for love and service in action. Fight and flight responses are nowhere to be found here. Everyone's in it together.

Naomi Watts as Maria, Tom Holland as Lucas

Still, the film lacks on a couple levels. While all the actors in the focal family turn in stellar performances, the supporting cast is comprised of the semi-talented. No one is painfully awful but the occasional poorly delivered line or wooden expression can undermine all the work Bayona or the leads have put into creating dramatic tension. This wouldn't be such an issue if the script walked a less precarious line. Some lines are saved from complete cheesiness because of McGregor's or Watts' prowess, but when put into the mouths of less proficient actors, their weaknesses show.

See comments

Single Page

Page:12Next