THE IMPOSSIBLE

 Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Naomi Watts: Dr. Maria Bennett

Ewan McGregor: her husband Henry

Tom Holland: their 14-old-son Lucas

REVIEW

We’ve all seen videos taken of the devastating tsunami that slammed into coastal South East Asia on Boxing Day 2004 but never with such intensity. By focusing on the struggle of one family the movie brings the disaster into perspective. If you ever had any doubt, let me assure you that you do not want to be caught in one of these.

It should be noted that some liberties have been taken with the facts: instead of the Spanish speaking family of Alvarez Belon they are presented as the Bennett family of British ex-pats living in Japan. As such we are spared having to read  sub-titles in English.

The producers have wisely not dwelt upon the repulsive “in-your-face” images instead just showing a flopping fish to represent the human destruction. I can handle that.

The acting is uniformly good and they are called upon  to show a wide range of emotions as the true story unfolds.

  

CLASSIFICATION

 for intense realistic disaster sequences, disturbing injury images and brief nudity.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

• The full moon is high in the sky as the family sits down for dinner then by the time they’re finished the it is almost on the horizon. In real life it takes all night to do that not a matter of an hour or two.
• When the moon is near the horizon it remains bright white whereas in reality it has a warm orange tinge to it that gradually fades as it ascends.
• Finally the so-called moon illusion is missing as it does not appear to be any  larger than when it was high in the sky.