Impossible to like this movie

Rating: Null/10 (13 February 2013)

I fear the Director of The Impossible has missed the mark by not dealing with the main theme of the Tsunami aftermath. The theme I refer to is that of loss and grief.
Whilst watching this movie I was left wondering about the other tourists and the Thai people and what they had experienced? This was only hinted at though. For example when Ewan McGregor is lent a phone by a man who has actually lost his family, the main emotional focus is kept on the phone call, the other man's grief by-passed altogether. Worse still, when it comes to showing the effect upon the local Thai population, who are depicted as periphery, we are left with an emotional vacuum.
All we are given as an audience throughout is one family torn apart and the underlying question of whether they will be re-united. 250,000 people died that Boxing day, that's 250,000 stories of family loss. Of course it is impossible to depict every story, but the account that you depict as a Director should in some way reflect what happened to people generally. And this story sadly does not do that. Yes it is based upon a true story, but it is a story that does not reflect the reality of so many that day.I feel the Director, overwhelmed by the scope of the subject matter has opted for a story that ties up into a neat filmic parcel.