The Impossible (2012) By J.A. Bayona | Movie Review

The Impossible is a movie based on true events of the horrible Tsunami that happened in The Indian Ocean on 26^th of December 2004. The director managed to capture the devastating aftermath of the incident through this movie in a very realistic way. This movie got nominated for one academy award for Naomi Watt’s marvelous performance. Also in this movie, we can see high profiled actors like Tom Holland and Ewan McGregor.

The movie starts when the Bennett family goes to Thailand for their Christmas vacation in 2004. They had a reservation for a brand new beach side resort called Orchid Beach resort. There are five members in the Bennett family, mom and dad with three little boys. The oldest is 12 years old and the youngest is only five years old. They celebrate Christmas with the rest of the people in the hotel on the night of 25^th.  On the next day morning, all 5 of them were near the pool when the first wave of tsunami hits Thailand.

Henry, the father dives into the pool while carrying both of his youngest sons when the wave hits. The oldest son Lucas was looking for his ball so he was a bit far away from the others when the wave hits. So he quickly jumps in to the swimming pool right when the wave hits. Maria, the mother of the family was in front of a huge glass when the wave hits. So she gets lots of wounds when she goes through that glass because of the wave.

Then Maria holds on to a coconut tree while the water is flooding rapidly through the land. Then she hears the screaming of her oldest son Lucas. Then her instincts kick in and she tries to swim to Lucas against all odds. Houses, trees, vehicles and everything was flooding through the water but she finally manages to grab on to Lucas. After everything settles, they walk into the country and climbs up to a tree with another toddler they found on their way.

Lucas only had a couple of scratches but Maria had serious injuries on her leg and chest. So she was weak at the moment. After a couple of hours, a rescue party comes and they transports Maria and Lucas to a local hospital. Maria was trying her best to look ok for Lucas but it was obvious for Lucas and to the audience that she was fighting for her life.

Then, the audience sees that Henry is looking for Maria and Lucas through the rubble in the evening. After a while, he returns back to the hotel he was in and the audience sees that both his youngest sons survived without any serious injuries. But after that, Henry leaves both of them to go look for Maria and Lucas. So he gives his sons to a lady and tells her to look after them.

Then he goes to look for Maria and Lucas but he couldn’t find them. Then he gets to a shelter and from there, he manages to call home and tells that his youngest sons are ok but he needs to find his wife and Lucas. After that, he gets help from another person. So he goes to every hospitals but he couldn’t find them. After that he goes to the final hospital, which was the hospital that Maria and Lucas was actually in. At that time, the youngest sons Thomas and Simon were getting transported to a different shelter with other kids.

Then Simon, the youngest son wanted to pee. So he goes out and pee right in front of the hospital where the rest of the family was in at that moment. At that time, Lucas recognizes his father’s legs from far away while he was looking for them. But Henry couldn’t see him. So he goes on, looking for them while Lucas tries to run toward him. He screams “dad” but Henry couldn’t hear him. At last, Lucas goes outside and screams and at that time, Henry gets back to the lorry he came with lost hope.

At that time, Simon recognizes Lucas voice so he runs towards him. When all three siblings finally gets united after the tsunami, Henry sees them because he got back from the lorry since he had a feeling.

Then all of them goes to see Maria. She recognizes them but since she was in a critical stage, she had to go into immediate surgery. But luckily, the surgery becomes a success and Maria gets to live without amputating her leg. At the end, the Bennett family gets to go to Singapore for the best medical treatments for Maria and the movie ends.

To me, this movie brought back old memories because I remember the Tsunami tragedy and how devastating it was for the whole world. This movie managed to capture the authenticity and the catastrophe it caused and how people reacted to it in a thrilling and very realistic way. I think this is a must watch for everyone who faced any consequences from the Tsunami in 2004 because this movie is so realistic and marvelous in terms of directing and acting.