When trying to think of an older movie to write about along with Crawl the first thing to come to mind was The Impossible. Coincidentally I also watched that at Paramount. Well, maybe not a coincidence, as I watched pretty much everything, including movies from other studios, there during those days. I look forward to the future my business manager has promised, where I’ll be invited to premieres as a member of the press.
For now, was happy to have gotten to see the screenings I have and The Impossible was a great film! Very great.
Plot is very high concept – family on vacation in Thailand ends up right in the thick of the 2004 tsunami and has to find a way safely home. I can’t say anymore about the plot without giving away spoilers so I’ll just cut to the praise.
There are two big things that deserve praise. One is the visual effects. The tsunami looks beyond amazing and if you get a chance to watch this on the big screen you really need to take it. You actually feel like you’re there with the characters and thus you experience their horror.
The other is the acting. Naomi Watts, as the matriarch Maria Bennet, deservedly received Best Actress nominations at the Oscars, the SAG Awards, and the Golden Globes. Ewan McGregor*, as her husband Henry, also shines as does young Tom Holland, in his first major role, portraying their oldest son Lucas.
When I just reviewed Tom Holland’s starring vehicle from this month I mentioned the controversy <eye-roll> over The Little Mermaid being black in the upcoming live-action adaptation. Some of the conservatives throwing hissy fits have tried claiming that if the positions were reversed people would complain about whitewashing. Ironically, this Holland movie did receive those complaints.
Arguments I saw on different message boards basically went like this:
“There were all those Thai people affected by the tsunami and this movie focuses on white tourists.”
“It’s a remarkable story those tourists had and the woman wrote a book.”
“Then at least choose Spanish actors instead of blue-eyed blondes.”
“Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz must not have been available.”
“Well, don’t use white actors in their place.”
“Spaniards are white.”
“No they aren’t.”
“Here’s a picture of the Spanish royal family. They sure look white to me.”
“That’s not how the real people looked though.”
“There are only two Spanish actors famous enough to carry a movie this big – Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. The producers might have thought Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts would be better in the roles. Considering Maria Belón was on set monitoring the adaptation of her book they must have honored her vision.”
“Why did they get their own movie though? Such a Hollywood thing to do, when there were hundreds of thousands of locals in the Asian countries hit by the tsunami.”
“Listen to yourself! The Spanish people in the real story are too white to be the main characters in a movie about a tsunami in Asia and the WASP actors in the movie are too white to play the Spanish people?!”
What shouldn’t get lost in any controversy is how terrific a movie it is. Whether or not you are okay with María Belón, her husband Enrique, and their sons Lucas, Simón and Tomás getting turned into Maria Bennett, her husband Henry**, and their sons Lucas, Simon, and Thomas and whether or not you’re okay with María Belón and her family being the protagonists of this movie about an Asian tsunami, do yourself a favor and watch The Impossible.
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to comment.
Bottom line: Terrific
*The year before I had written a Facebook post “Congratulations to Christopher Plummer on his win for Beginners. Now when is the incomparable Ewan McGregor finally going to get an Oscar nomination?” After seeing this I wrote “Just watched The Impossible and think Naomi Watts definitely earned her Oscar nomination. Now when will the incomparable Ewan McGregor finally get recognized?” The following year I wrote “Hopefully nothing like this will be needed again but here goes: Watched August: Osage County and congratulate Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts on their much deserved Oscar nominations. Now when will the incomparable Ewan McGregor finally get recognized by the Academy?” Still waiting five years later.
**This is my first learning that Henry is the Anglo-Saxon version of Enrique. I wonder what the equivalent is for Enrico? Henro? Sorry, couldn’t resist another dad joke. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and have kids.
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