The Impossible Review by Dio Rochino

In a movie market that is saturated with convoluted story ideas. it’s great to see a film that is beautiful, simple and poignant.  Based on a family’s first hand account of their experiences with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the movie begins a couple of days before the disaster as they travel to a Thailand resort for Christmas.  They worry about things that families are usually troubled about.  Finances, stability and work, until the tsunami hits while they’re playing at the resort’s pool.  What happens next is a battle of survival and desperation as the story focuses on two occurrences.  The mother with the oldest son attempting to survive the rampaging waves of rushing water and debris while trying to navigate safely away from harm to find medical attention and the father, along with the two younger children searching frantically to find them.  

  But the story conveyed is much more than just a tale of their disastrous ordeal. It’s very structure seems to serve the singular purpose of having the viewers resonate with the family’s emotional turmoil.  The agony of the father’s shaking voice is heartfelt when he’s talking on the phone, trying to find out if a relative heard from his wife and son.  Also, soft thumps and muffled sounds emit feelings of helplessness and claustrophobia when the mother is rapidly pushed through the submerged, water filled interiors of the resort by swift currents.  These are but a few of the many instances in the movie that imposes empathy upon the audience.  It’s a rare piece of work where nothing felt drawn out or misplaced. The imagery, which begins looking colorful and painterly quickly turns gritty and washed out after the catastrophe, driving the indication that this once scenic paradise has been demolished into something horrible.  Even the score itself resembled a less is more approach as the music doesn’t overpower by playing only during a few key scenes.

  It’s as if the collective senses of the film’s composition come together to transcend it’s graphic artistry. Where the audio and visuals work collectively to provide the viewer with a compassionate experience.  It’s a sight for sore eyes in the most respectable sense and the message it shares is delightfully delivered with the utmost sincerity.  The Impossible, simply put is aptly named because it happens to do exactly that by capturing gut wrenching emotion and containing it in motion picture poetry.