Mumsy stuff at its best

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2013)

My kind of film. About a brilliant and loving mummy with three adorable sons - Lucas an adolescent on the verge of his first exam into manhood plus two gorgeous little'uns 7 and 5 year old. They arrive at this amazingly idyllic resort in Thailand for their Christmas holiday. A happy affluent western white family in love. There is a slight worry whether Dad is going to keep his job in Japan but Maria is a doctor so she can always go back to work in England. A cute scene shot like a home movie from Dad's p.o.v. to records the Christmas morning and the excitement of the presents.
Tsunami comes to them as they are in the pool overlooking the beach. Good effects and photography but sound is best. The first hour of the story is the surviving mum and Lucas. First they are still in the fast moving water very precarious with lots of dangerous objects and debris in it. They almost die even though they survived the wave itself. Then they manage to get back to the shore. She is badly hurt a big slice of her leg is hanging off on the back of her knee, it makes the boy wheezy. They rescue a little Daniel perhaps 4 y. o. who is screaming for help in the surrounding solitude. They climb a tree to rest on it and then are rescued by the locals and taken to a hospital. The hospital: mayhem of course. Mum is treated but in a bad shape. She tells Lucas to make himself useful and he runs around the hospital helping people find each other. When he gets back to her - she's gone and it all looks like she's died.
Cut to father who survived (we find out one hour into the film) which no harm but for a blood shot eye. Soon after we also know that the two little ones are unscathed. He sends them to the safety somewhere in the mountains so he can stay and look for Maria and Lucas ,futile as it may seem. He must make a heart breaking phone call to his parents to promise them he'll not give up looking for his wife and son.
At the hospital Lucas is asked to identify a few objects left behind by his mum but he is unsure - it turns out that Mum is alive, the paperwork got muddled up but she is not dead! At that time the Dad arrives at that hospital and spots Lucas and then the little ones and they all go to Mum. Mum's really poorly and still might die but how could she now knowing that, unbelievably, all her family are there to support her. She goes into the surgery and only now we see the more detailed beautifully sh0wn - lots of very slow motion - account of what's happened to her UNDER WATER until the first triumphant gasp for air above water. Quite powerful stuff.
A really beautiful scene with Geraldine Chaplin - the little'uns are sitting in the camp at night all by themselves and an old lady comes to sit with them. They look at the stars and they comment on their light coming through to us even though the stars may be long dead. The little boy asks 'can we tell which stars are dead and which aren't' and the old lady explains that we can't.
Really fine child acting: Tom Holland - i see a tremendous future for him and look forward to seeing him more. Finally a Spanish film that looks like a Hollywood production - what's not to like?