The Impossible Movie Review

Rating: 9/10 (11 February 2020)

I thought The Impossible was a fantastically executed movie as it was highly gripping, heart-wrenching, and a largely accurate portrayal. It begins with the family of five enjoying their holiday vacation at a resort in Khao Lak, Thailand. Two days into the trip the massive tsunami rips through the area, immediately destroying the resort and everything else in its path. In a dramatic scene, the mother and oldest son, Lucas, swirl around in the water for several minutes, knocking into all kinds of objects and suffering multiple serious injuries. They reunite once they find safe ground and rescue an even younger boy who is alone. They make it to a hospital and the mother is rushed into surgery while Lucas goes off to help others find their loved ones, which he does successfully for one father and son. Meanwhile, the father and two younger boys make their way inland from the resort, and after being separated once and the father checking multiple hospitals, they are all reunited in an uplifting scene. The movie ends with the family being transported by plane to Singapore to get the mother to a better hospital for her further surgeries.
I thought this film was fantastic because the portrayal of the tsunami felt very real compared to most disaster films. The underwater camera shots of the people being tossed around provided an excellent sense of what it is like to be caught in one of these nightmares. Overhead shots captured just how devastating the tsunami was, as there was usually nothing but wreckage for as far as the eye could see. Claustrophobic scenes in the camps and hospitals during the fallout of the tsunami did an amazing job of showing how stressful this period can be for families. The entire movie was extremely gory (to the point where my roommate left to throw up halfway through watching) but this very accurately depicted how harrowing an event of this nature can be. All of this is not to mention the star-studded cast that absolutely nailed their performances and sold the reality of the movie.
In the movie there appeared to be no warning system in place at all, as the characters only understood what was about to happen just as the wave was upon them. With almost 5,000 confirmed deaths from this 2004 disaster, this certainly played a part in it being one of the deadliest tsunamis on record. In the wake of the tsunami (pun intended) Thailand has reinforced their tsunami warning system to be much more effective, a practice all towns in earthquake-prone locations should adopt if they aren't already. Watching this movie definitely makes me think tsunami preparedness has more to do with timely warning and evacuation rather than infrastructure, and this is an area that can be easily improved in many areas. As far as response to the disaster, it was decent if unorganized. There were mainly scenes of families reuniting rather than people dying on their hospital bed, which gave the sense that the Thai rescue force did a largely admirable job. In the end, cutting down the death toll from a tsunami is mainly about preparedness and forewarning.