The Impossible

I think a few years ago when I reviewed Clint Eastwood’s atrocious Hereafter, I highlighted the fact he had unnecessarily used the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami as a pick up point for one of the (fictional) characters story arcs. Though basing films on real life disasters is always walking the moral tightrope, I much prefer an approach such as here in which Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible tells the real life story of a holidaying family caught up in the destruction of that fateful day. The family in question are Maria Bennet (Naomi Watts), her husband (Ewan McGregor) and their three young sons. When the tsunami hits the family get split up with Maria and one of the sons being swept away. The rest of the film is taken up with following both family groups as they try to locate each other amongst the mayhem (though the main focus is on Maria). The effects are highly impressive and though there is plenty of death and destruction on show, it is sensibly portrayed in a non-graphic manner, though the brief shot of a leg injury that Maria suffers is one of the most gruesome wounds ever committed to celluloid. On the acting front, Watts is the stand out performer. There aren’t many better actresses around when it comes to portraying emotional loss and she is hugely convincing here. McGregor has less to do (his role is basically looking under large pieces of debris and checking lists), though he still does a solid job and the three child actors all fall on the right line of the annoying / cute divide. The keener eyed amongst you might recognise Bayona as the man who called the shots for 2007’s superb The Orphanage and, despite appearances, this is actually a Spanish production. The actual family this is based on were from said country, though Bayona doesn’t mention their nationality in the film in order to create a more “universal” feel to the story. Unfortunately this doesn’t quite work though as Bayona’s direction and Sergio Sánchez’s script concentrates so much on the Bennet family the bigger humanitarian picture is pretty much pushed to the sidelines.  I appreciate that this story is meant to specifically be about one family but, heartening story though it is, it’s hard to really feel its emotional impact when it’s not fully placed in the context of the overall disaster. Direction wise Bayona isn’t as tight here as he was during his previous outing with a few too many cultural stereotypes on display and well-meant scenes portraying aid and encouragement unfortunately tip over into mawkishness. All in all this was a tricky subject matter to tackle, but regardless of topic, a film still has to be reviewed on its cinematic quality, not it’s worthiness, and in this instance Bayona gives us a good film, just not a great one.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

An impressive look and Watts on top form counter balance some of the more stagey aspects of the story. Rating: 6/10.