Two boys and an old woman sit below the stars on the night of the tragic tsunami that swept Thailand in 2004.
“Some of the stars have been burned out for a long long time. Did you know that?”
“They’re dead, aren’t they?”
“They’re dead, but once they were so bright that their light is still travelling through space. We could still see them!”
“How can you tell which ones are dead and which ones are not?”
‘No you can’t. It’s impossible… It’s a beautiful mystery, isn’t it?”
The Impossible is a heart-breaking tale of love for family. It shows innate traits of generosity and kindness in people that come across cultures, despite the severity of situations that arise.
Naomi Watts was outstanding in here. Her eyes are enough to feel her hurt. Her whimpering is bullet to the ears. You feel her character’s longing for her lost husband and children. Actually she could pass as her children’s older sister or something.
Ewan McGregor and the children look adorable too. Actually the lead stars are too cute, you’d never want to make them feel hurt or something.
The movie excels much on its exposition of the main happenings of a tsunami. That tsunami scene sweeping the beachfront and tearing down palm trees was so gruesome; I guess you’d have seen horror on my face. That was some genius production there.
That dream right at the climax was gripping. I could never imagine myself surviving amid high waters with metal bars and wires and posts and all. The visuals was stunning. Realism achieved. The montage of harsh underwater visuals makes every heart pound.
If there’s one thing I could opt to improve on, it’s on how this movie solicits sympathy more than it really needs. The cast has played their parts well already; we see enough reasonable histrionic moments from them. If the direction rather have toned down a bit on its music score, and made some scenes subtler, I would have appreciated the movie better. You know that sequence in every drama where one person’s looking for the other, the camera focuses on him, strides to and fro to make the effect of bewilderedness and desperation, then the camera zooms out to a wide expanse with lots of people, then the camera focuses on the other person, then the other person makes a scene or something, then the other person recognizes the other through his voice or his silhouette or something, then they end up with a slow-motion grand hug and kisses scene.
Alright, it’s heart-warming and all, but there’s a way subtler and more committal. After all, I’ve had enough of pensive, histrionic flairs from Les Mis so I guess I’m a bit bitter lately to these kinds of stuff.
Other than that, I think The Impossible is a great family drama.
More than anything else, I think this movie is a tribute to the survivors and the ones departed from the tragic event; and a reminder that their light still shines from the stars.
The Rowing Rooster 