Every tragedy has its movie

Rating: 6/10 (27 June 2015)

And this one here is probably the most famous film about the 2004 Tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people. The director is Juan Antonio Bayona and the film is written by Sergio G. Sánchez based on María Belón's story. She is the character that Naomi Watts' main character is based on. The only other famous actor in here is Ewan McGregor. But that is going to change soon as Tom Holland's performance in here is probably the main reason why he will be the next Spider Man. Bayona and Sanchez already worked together on "The Orphanage" and given the fact that both are still pretty young, it will be interesting to see what they can come up with in the coming years.
The film can basically split into two halves. The first 55 minutes are about Watts' and Holland's characters and their fights for survival in the chaotic post-catastrophe Thailand. The second half is initially about McGregor's character and the other two sons, but quickly becomes a family affair. The first half we don't know if McGregor's character, Thomas and Simon will live or what happened to them in general. Afterward, it's all about the declining health of Watts' character and the question if she will survive with all her severe injuries. Watts got her second Oscar nomination for her portrayal here. I am not sure if I would have nominated her, but I can see why. She really carries the first half and the only thing I did not really like was the over-the-top altruist approach when she tells her son to help other people in the hospital. At least, this resulted in one of the finest scenes of the film, namely when Holland's character manages to reunite the Swedish father with his son. Holland has a couple well-written (and baity) scenes in general. Another one would be when he meets his two brothers again.
The supporting cast is strong as well. Geraldine Chaplin has one very nice scene about dead stars and I always thought Sönke Möhring was the more talented of the Möhring brothers, even if the general public in Germany thinks otherwise. He totally nailed his scene when he meets McGregor. All in all, this is a decent film. It's very good in the first hour, but gets a bit worse afterward. Still, it is never bad. It is basically what you would expect a nature catastrophe movie to look like. With that comes a good story about survival. Decent effort from everybody involved. Recommended.