Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Naomi Watts | ... | ||
Ewan McGregor | ... | ||
Tom Holland | ... | ||
Samuel Joslin | ... | ||
Oaklee Pendergast | ... | ||
Marta Etura | ... | ||
Sönke Möhring | ... | ||
Geraldine Chaplin | ... | ||
Ploy Jindachote | ... | ||
Jomjaoi Sae-Limh | ... | ||
Johan Sundberg | ... | ||
Jan Roland Sundberg | ... | ||
La-Orng Thongruang | ... |
Old Thai Man
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Tor Klathaley | ... |
Young Thai Man
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Douglas Johansson | ... |
Mr. Benstrom
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A regular family - Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three kids - travel to Thailand to spend Christmas. They get an upgrade to a villa on the coastline. After settling in and exchanging gifts, they go to the pool, like so many other tourists. A perfect paradise vacation until a distant noise becomes a roar. There is no time to escape from the tsunami; Maria and her eldest are swept one way, Henry and the youngest another. Who will survive, and what will become of them? Written by Ronaldo Ferreira
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami is brought to shockingly realistic life in J. A. Bayona's ten minute sequence near the beginning of the harrowing true-life survival tale, "The Impossible." With little to no CGI and using mostly scale models and a giant water tank, Bayona throws the viewers into the wave along with stars Naomi Watts (astonishing) and young Tom Holland (revelatory as Watts' son). Told from the point of view of a family on holiday in Thailand, the story makes for a riveting family-centered emotional drama. The rest of the cast is outstanding as well, and there's a strong humanist approach applied to depicting this wide-spread multi-national disaster.
It might pull on the heartstrings a bit "too much" in some sequences, but the manipulation is apt in telling this real-life drama.
Overall - an unforgettable, draining but uplifting film experience.
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