FILM REVIEW: THE IMPOSSIBLE

Most Australians will remember the horror of waking up on Boxing Day in 2004 and seeing images of the devestation a tsunami had wrecked across Asia. One of the remarkable stories from that awful day was of a Spanish family staying in Thailand, whose tale has been turned into the film The Impossible. However, why they needed to be changed to the British Bennett family for the film is unclear and feels somewhat wrong. The tense, harrowing tone is set in the film's opening few minutes, with a black screen accompanied by the thunderous roar of the impending wave. But suddenly we're in the days before the event, where Maria Bennett (played by Aussie Naomi Watts), her husband Henry (played by Ewan McGregor), and their three young boys are enjoying the first few days of their holiday. Then the inevitable happens. Director Juan Antonio Bayona tried to make the scenes as realistic as possible, using real water and little CGI. The result is that when the wave does hit, it's a moment of pure terror as you imagine being there. Maria is thrown about underwater like a doll in a washing machine, in a terrifying scene, that's all surging water and fear. Much has been made about The Impossible being Watts' movie, but it's just as much a vehicle for Tom Holland, who's remarkable as her oldest son Lucas. Word of warning: take tissues. This is the kind of movie that will defy even the most stoic of people to shed a tear. In the end, while The Impossible is an amazing tale about the power of the human spirit, when it comes to topics as devastating as this one, it also reminds you of the many thousands of families that didn't have a semblance of a happy ending