The Impossible

Director Juan Antonio Bayona's The Impossible is based on the true story of a British family who were vacationing at a beach hotel on Khao Lak in Thailand when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit. Businessman Henry (Ewan McGregor), his wife Maria (Oscar nominee Naomi Watts), and their three sons are enjoying a tropical paradise until the morning of December 26th, when they're suddenly swept in different directions by an immense tidal wave. Along with thousands of others, Maria struggles through the shattered trees and scattered debris, eventually spying their oldest son, terrified but courageous Lucas (Tom Holland), but she has no idea what happened to Henry and the two younger boys. Propelling the film, Watts is fiercely brave, acting with every muscle in her body, while McGregor's sense of urgency is gripping. The depiction of the tsunami's devastation is horrific, with Maria being repeatedly submerged under rushing water, and struggling to the surface. Badly injured and in excruciating pain, she makes her way through muddy rubble with Lucas to seek help and locate the rest of her family amid the teeming hoards of refugees. Unfortunately, The Impossible suffers somewhat from unnecessary detours into sentimentality--including a ponderous, philosophical interlude between Lucas and an elderly survivor (Geraldine Chaplin)—but otherwise this grim and gritty disaster film is a powerful watch. Recommended. (S. Granger)