Film critic: The Impossible

That's iiimpossiiiibleeeeeeeee! Many students use this film for their critic... Apparently, the producers and above all the publicity have done a good job. I'm really sorry (I say this a lot lately...) to force you to read another critic another time... If you still haven't seen the movie, you probably don't want to anymore because you may already be sick of it. It's just that from the day I saw the movie I thought about writing about it in my film critic...

Well, let's hope that I can still entertain you. So let's begin!

Impossible to stay calm

This movie will take you, shake you around, put you underwater, get you out and soothe you just to begin another time from the beginning, until it eventually kisses you on your forehead when the final scene is on the screen. These things are supposed to happen only to the protagonists, but you will feel alike.

We experience the story (based on the reality) of a family in the middle of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. A Spanish couple, Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry (Ewan McGregor), with their 3 children, Lucas, Thomas and Simon, stay on a hotel in Thailand during the Christmas vacations. Everything's right, until one day the disaster happens. The tsunami reaches the coast of Thailand and causes the death of thousands of people. And the family will be separated from each other. Will they all survive and get finally back together? 

I didn't know I could love and hate a film at the same time as much as I do it with this one. It stroke me when I heard that it was a movie of a Spanish production. Such superstars like Ewan McGregor (Star Wars Episode I-III, Moulin Rouge) and Naomi Watts (Ring, King Kong) in such a costly film and all that from our own country? Wow! It was a nice surprise to hear that. The effects of the film are just outstanding. At many points I just got the feeling to be inside the catastrophe by myself. Also, I felt like the protagonists and it just made me think of how I would react in a fatal situation like this one. The dramatic moments are very emotional. Very emotional. I had to try to hold back my tears and it seemed that I was the only in our row who could accomplish that hard challenge. And yes, there weren't just girls in my row.

But exactly these dramatic points, the moments when you see the injuries of the protagonists, when you feel along with them and start to suffer like you would be there between all the dead and half-dead people... it's exactly why this film is a masterpiece in two ways. First, you're totally inside the plot and it's a never previously felt experience. Although I think that, to reach that point, you need to watch the film in the cinema on the big screen in the dark room and with the high-quality sound effects. Second, it will be a torture for you because you just want to escape from all that dead and desperation the movie transmits you. Just like the victims of the tsunami you only want to get out off that depressing place and return to your normal life.

I would say that it's a movie for people who want to get a new experience and see those dramatic events by the point of view of the victims. Probably, on a little screen at home it wouldn't have the same effect, so if the film's still in the cinema next to you, I highly recommend you to think about a visit to Thailand 8 years ago. This is nothing for auditors with bad nerves, so better bring a package of handkerchiefs. Your eyes and your nose and the ones of your neighbours in the hall will be grateful.

*** out of 4, it's definitely worth the money. Brilliant film with very good acting!