An Unforgettable Journey

My goodness, is The Impossible, the based-on-the-true-story of the Spanish Belon family, survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, full of powerful performances.

I mean, everyone’s talking about how tremendous Naomi Watts is as Maria Bennett (the nationality of the family is unspecified but presumable to be British in the film), the wife of Henry (Ewan McGregor) and mother of three sons at the center of the story.

Even Reese Witherspoon.

Watts is the stick with which I am measuring all serious Best Actress frontrunners at the moment. Mostly because I’ve not yet caught all those other buzzy performances of 2012 (with the exception of Silver Linings Playbook’s Jennifer Lawrence’s, who is pretty great in what I think is my favorite film of the year that was – go see it!).

So I shall go back on my own Best Actress picks and commence to gush like a doof about Watts with big-ups-y’all apologies to Zero Dark Thirty’s Jessica Chastain and Rust and Bone’s Marion Cotillard and whomever is favorite for that fifth spot today.

The Aussie is incredibly fierce and powerful as Maria. She doesn’t say a lot throughout the film, for screenwriter Sergio G. Sánchez doesn’t clutter the action for director Juan Antonio Bayona with words. That would have been overdramatizing The Impossible, obviously (although Bayona does indulge in some moments of missed run-ins I found a tad distracting). I mean, this is the story of a family achieving the titular feat in the wake of one the most devastating natural disasters in recent history. You don’t add to that.

You just imagine what it was like for them or, in this case, work from first-person accounts, which seriously don’t get any more moving that this, alright. Y’ know you’re witnessing something real special when someone a movie character can grab a hold you in that way.

In a show of restraint, Bayona does a good of lulling us into a sense of peace in the hours leading to that fateful December morning. It isn’t until very late in the film that he effectively, intensely walks us, if you will, through what being caught in that event must have been like for Maria.

It is a harrowing sequence.

But I digress.

We see the Bennett’s arrival in Thailand, where they’ll spend the Christmas holiday. We have a sense for their dynamics: Maria and Henry are totally in love, not without their share of work-related worry, and their kids Lucas (12), 7-and-a-half-year old Thomas, and Simon (5) are typical boys who’ll be boys.

Then the water comes roaring toward them and they’re separated.

Maria and Lucas manage to find each other, and the humanity and heart of the film takes over.

With nary a word we see them draw strength from each other take care of each other. Like I said, Watts is amazing, but it is Tom Holland as Lucas who reveals himself as not only her emotional tether to life (both mother and son, probably acknowledging it’s a miracle they found each other, don’t dwell on why-us-ing or wishing for more good fortune) but also ours to everything we witness on screen. This is their film and they make away with it like bandits.

Holland, a young actor whose only previous acting credit was the West End production of Billy Elliott, raises Watts’ game in the film, and holds his own phenomenally. He and McGregor deliver what I find to be beautiful work that is the reason we are talking about Watts so much. They support the story and her work while being memorable themselves. Had I seen The Impossible before 2013 started they definitely would have made my best of... list, especially McGregor whom I not only heart but also find has been on a roll lately, holding a high bar for his peers in such a generous way that he becomes the silent partner in the relationship.

For now, though, I will say that those other ladies courting Oscar this season had better brought it because Watts is in it to win it.

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: Summit Entertainment.