After 20 minutes, the emotional leash on The Impossible is at its limit. After 40 minutes we’ve heard enough screaming and pained exasperations to last a lifetime. The final hour is sopping with melodrama so contrived I’d love to see someone try and convince me I was watching a story that’s supposedly true.
We’re told this is the story of a family separated during the 2004 tsunami that hit the coast of Thailand on December 26, 2004. As the text fades away, two solitary words remain emblazoned on screen… “true story”. I saw this and believed the emphasis remained not only for added dramatic effect, but because I was about to see the most honest account of the story director Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage) could provide. Yeah right!
The film begins by introducing us to Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor), Lucas (Tom Holland), Simon (Oaklee Pendergast) and Thomas (Samuel Joslin). They settle in to their resort bungalow, let loose some Chinese lanterns on Christmas Eve, open presents and capture family movies on Christmas Day and settle in poolside a day later. Henry is playing with the boys in the pool while Maria reads a book in the sun when a massive wave rises from the sea, sweeping away everything in its path.
Maria and Lucas are separated from Henry, Simon and Thomas as the massive current takes them deeper inland. The effects during the scene are astonishing. Palm trees bend and give way under the pressure of the water, cars are floating by and Maria and Lucas are pummeled by floating debris, sustaining injuries that will make the journey to safety much more difficult.
It’s a harrowing and effective sequence. A mother’s desire to protect her son and a son unable to see his mother in pain works to great dramatic effect. With the destroyed landscape surrounding them and their injuries taken into account, they have a long and arduous road ahead of them and they are only half of the story. Henry and the boys have their own journey to make and you better believe tough times are ahead.
All things considered, one problem the movie faces is the fact there isn’t enough story to tell. Dramatic license was clearly taken as the story progresses and once the tsunami has passed not enough is left to sustain any kind of feature running time, even at only 98 minutes long. The only way it can attempt to keep you invested is through the characters’ constant pain and suffering as they try to reunite with one another. If it isn’t physical pain, it’s emotional loss or the recounting the story to loved ones over the phone.
It’s easy to feel compassion for their plight and the screenplay goes to great, melodramatic lengths to make sure the human spirit is just as much the highlight of the film as is a family’s love for one another. But it is presented in such a heavy-handed, obvious manner with one of the worst narrative devices used late in the film to bring tension to the picture that you end up losing interest altogether.
The most surprising thing is that it was written by Sergio G. Sanchez who wrote The Orphanage for Bayona, a film so subtle and delicate in narrative it practically hums its dramatic beats while The Impossible screams at the top of its lungs. The story consistently beats you over the head to the point you’re numb to the characters’ struggle and resorts to terribly dismissive dialogue in the latter moments that all you can do is begin to chuckle at the contrivances.
It’s really too bad it all had to end so poorly because the first 20 minutes are quite strong with Watts working her ass off in what looked like a tough role to begin with and Holland is also quite strong as much of the heavy lifting is placed on the young actor’s (who looks a lot like Jamie Bell) shoulders.
Overall, it’s a film that hits hard in its opening and hopes it has softened you up enough along the way to tug at your heartstrings in the end. I’m sure it will end up working for some, but for me I got to the point where I’d just had enough.
