what is going on?

Rating: 2/10 (23 October 2013)

i haven't watched the trailer had no idea about the true story etc. the only thing i knew about the movie before watching it, was that it was about the tsunami in Thailand. and i thought this is a difficult topic, but it could be made amazingly. and very quickly i was wrong. i will give it one thing- it kept me involved, i was actually arguing with it. the visuals are amazing, the tsunami scenes are chilling, there is nothing to be added there. i also don't cringe at gore scenes, but this just made me angry. first the hole in her leg and her chest, i really had no need to see that, and the repeating the shame of the little boy forced to see the breasts of his mother through out the film. and her wounds are exploited beyond belief, her climbing the tree, him staring at her on the tree, the guy dragging her, again her wound was on the back of her leg and he is dragging her on the back of her legs? why? there was plenty debris around put her on something, or pull her on her side or anything that does not involve dragging a gape a hole in her leg over the ground. and god that hole bugged me beyond belief, she would have bled out like 5 times before actually getting to the hospital and getting blood. it was a huge gaping hole in her leg, and it wasn't even her only wound, and as if that wasn't enough she had internal bleeding, and she didn't die? logic? the movie actually kept me wishing for her to die at some point in order to make it more realistic. in the hospital when she sends the boy to do something. i remember actually asking if anyone in this part of the world was anything but a tourist. it is a magical place where all the people are tourists from all over the world and there is one Asian girl that is a doctor or nurse, we are never really sure. and if they didn't want to show them, at least add a few names to the list, as the boy is reading it, just add a few Asian names on the list while he goes through halls. there are scenes that are worth watching and send the message of the horrible mess and chaos of the world and emotions in these people. i knew the husband and the boys were alive, considering that this would shorten the movie immensely. so no real surprise there. but the ingenious decision to let the two little boys go alone the older one being like 7, ''to the mountains'' where? with who? how will you find them? how will you know they are safe? and making this decision after surviving this, and suspecting the death of another child and his wife just seems, unreal and just plain stupid. the mothers reaction of keeping the son next to her at all times seems much more realistic in the situation and the trauma. and the oldest boy recognizing the legs of his father, this bit was amazing. the boy looking over the fence and seeing shorts and legs of someone and running after them yelling ''dad''. and the scenes where the boys and the father are ''missing'' each other and the forced suspense of will they see each other, just feels too long and frustrating. and i feel i don't want to repeat other reviewers with the implications of switching the Spanish family with the white British family who on the plane look like from a hallmark card, no local people in the movie, etc. as these have been pointed out so many times already.
i think this movie got the reviews it did for the really amazing scenes and sound of it. and because of something that i think the filmmakers were counting on. its a drama disaster movie. the sole premise that the disaster has already happened to a huge amount of people will make people feel horrified, scared and sympathetic to the victims of the tsunami. it felt the same for me. the problem is they might have thought that this coupled with the happy ending(for this imaginary particular upper class family)will be enough to involve and satisfy and reach out to viewers. i think they were wrong. i honestly look forward to someone doing a real and seriously thought out film about such topics, as i feel they need to be addressed and i think the movie industry has it in itself to make an amazing retelling of the stories, of tragedies worth being mentioned, that can shake our very core and the perception of our existence.