A tear-jerking tale but I would have preferred to see more.

Rating: 7/10 (25 February 2013)

First off, I would like to say that Ewan Mcgregor, Naomi Watts and the child actors in particular, were fantastic in this movie. The original Spanish mother chose Naomi Watts to play her in her tale, so this explains how a darker Spanish family becomes blonde and blue-eyed in this retelling. What it does not explain is the focus on only this family and white people in the background. I feel like the media is constantly pandering to us by assuming that we can only feel emotion for people of our own race, or from our own country.
I live in Ireland, and when 9/11 happened, the newspapers here went with headlines about how 11 Irish people had died in the tragedy. It was a horrific event that killed thousands, and I felt for every one of them, regardless of nationality or race. I dislike Hollywood's "dumbing down" of cinema for it's viewers, remaking fantastic foreign films like The Girl with the dragon tattoo for American viewers.
They assume that Americans and perhaps all English speaking Caucasians cannot feel for other races, connect with their story, or be bothered reading subtitles. Perhaps this is true of a small minority, but by continuing to pander like this, it breeds even more people to close off their minds. I enjoy the story of the human struggle in any language portrayed by any race, I'm perfectly capable of crying when a non-Caucasian experiences pain, and I would be willing to guess that most people would be the same as myself. Hollywood gives it's viewers no credit and treats them like dummies.
As I stated before, the original mother of this story picked Naomi Watts herself to play her in this movie. They all do a fantastic job of portraying one families struggle to find one another and to survive. However I would have preferred maybe a dual story, one following these unfortunate holiday makers, and one following a native. I think this would have given a much well rounded story of the event as it happened, and impress a greater impact on the audience.
It was quite unsettling that few natives were even involved in the story at all. You see them as the white family drive past to the hospital, and as they are going towards the plane at the end. They are crying and huddling around lost pictures of their loved ones. I found it hard to fully commit to being relieved for the one family that escaped when they are walking past so many that are suffering, who's stories are not over.