Whatta lotta watta: The Impossible

I saw The Impossible yesterday.

And I have some issues. For example, the film starts by assuring us that this is a 'true story', not even 'based on a true story', just two words- 'true story'. The problem? The original family were Spanish, not British. I don't see why they did this. Well, actually I do, I just wish I didn't; a non-English speaking family just wouldn't be as palatable. People wouldn't go and see a film where the protagonists aren't anglophones because they wouldn't identify with characters who speak a different language than them (or, so Hollywood assumes, at any rate). This is also presumably why the film doesn't focus on the damage to local communities- we never see any Thai people looking for their loved ones (though, in fairness, there are some Asian children on the Orphanmobile), or any in the hospital: it's all European tourists. The Thai are relegated to nurses, doctors and random villagers who, for no given reason, were completely unaffected by the tonnes of water that just washed across their country. They aid the white protagonists then vanish, nary a thought being given to the fact that, although our protagonists can escape as soon as they regroup, these poor souls are stuck in the ravaged country. Hooray!

Also, I thought that Tom Holland, who played eldest son Lucas, was just awful. He just shouted when it was dramatic and deadpanned the rest of the time. I didn't believe he was in the midst of a crisis: he just looked like he was bored.

Finally, I don't know why this story in particular was chosen to be told out of all the countless tales that must have arisen from the 2006 tsunami. It didn't strike me as particularly dramatic- one half of the family spent the entirety of the story in a hospital, the other on various motor vehicles. They weren't searching for each other for comparatively long (we see several other families seeking each other who haven't reunited by the time the Bennets have, so we know they weren't searching the longest), and honestly, they didn't strike me as particularly captivating people- they weren't dislikable, but there was nothing memorable or even very defined about their personalities. (They weren't even white!) So, why this particular group of people? Because their story had a happy ending? Surely, other stories must have? Or, at least, a bittersweet one? I feel kinda bad, because these are real people I'm talking about, but for the drama I almost wanted this film to have a sting in the tail, and for the mother to die. I know, I know, that's awful, and, obviously, I don't wish death on the real life woman, but it would have been more interesting to watch. To be honest, the majority of the film just felt like filler between the set piece of the water hitting and the emotional climax when the Bennets are re-united.

On the plus side, the film didn't shy away from showing dirt and, perhaps more importantly, injury- the wound on the back of Naomi Watts' leg made me want to vomit. The glamorous stars are made to look thoroughly unsexy, despite flashing both bosom and abdominals. And even if the story isn't particularly cinematic, the design of the movie is, with scores of mussed up extras milling about, looking destitute (which just kept peaking my interest in characters other than the designated protagonists).
I should also mention the recreation of the tsunami which is both breath-taking and terrifying: I honestly don't know how they did it, because it doesn't look CGI, and I swear they must have actually just crashed a tidal wave down on Ewan McGregor and co, because there are shots of them being pelted by the water which don't cut away.

All in all, there was obviously some talent behind the scenes on the film, but the problems created by focussing on the Bennets outweighed the highlights.