A Brilliant Portrayal Of A Horrible Disaster

Rating: 10/10 (8 June 2013)

Yes. The movie was "anglicized." The "true" story on which this is based was actually the story of a Spanish family and not an English family. That bothers some people. I have to say that it didn't really bother me. Whenever I come across the "true" story tag on a movie, I always assume that the term should be interpreted loosely. The point of this particular "true" story didn't depend on the identity of the family. To me, at least, who admittedly watched this tragedy unfold on television in the safety of my home in Canada, the story was "true" in the sense that it gave a harrowingly realistic depiction of what it might have been like to have been on the coast of Thailand on December 26, 2004, when the massive tsunami struck.
This film moves quickly into the story. There's a very brief depiction of the family on the plane, and a very brief depiction of Christmas, and then - suddenly and without any warning - the tsunami strikes, as the family are playing at a pool at a resort. The depiction of the tsunami is quite terrifying. It was an excellent job of recreating the disaster and giving those of us watching as much of a feel as we possibly could have. The immediate aftermath of the tsumani follows mother Maria and son Lucas, who struggle together with the raging waters and finally manage to get to a hospital. All the while father Henry, and sons Thomas and Simon are desperately trying to find them. You can feel the chaos of the situation, and the movie goes from one emotionally gut wrenching scene to another almost all the way through. The performances from the cast who played the family were brilliant. All were totally and completely believable in their depiction of their terror and their utter lostness.
There are a few minor quibbles one can make about this aspect of the story or that aspect of the story having been changed. I daresay those types of quibbles are always possible when dealing with a movie based on a "true" story. But this movie succeeded in what I believe its purpose was: to use the experience of one family to give the viewer just a taste of what had happened in Thailand on December 26, 2004 and its aftermath. In fact, it succeeded brilliantly. (10/10)