The Impossible

Ohne eine längere Einleitung (Titanic) oder durchlaufende Flashbacks (127 Hours), welche dem Publikum mehr über die Figuren erzählen würden, ist es dem Film nicht gelungen, mich gefangen zu nehmen. Durch das Schreien der Namen von nahen Personen und ein langes, dramatisch zusammengeschnittenes Rennen in ihre Arme kann man das nicht ersetzen. Hochwertig aufgenommen und solide gespielt, der Film hat aber keinen größeren Gedanken und keine psychologische Basis der Figuren. Ein wirklich *schönes* Musikmotiv, es müsste aber nicht jede zehn Minuten erklingen. (07.02.2013)

Bayona puts his previous experience with the horror genre to good use right from the beginning. The disconcerting musical motif and the method of filming (looking up from the depths) transform  the tranquil ocean surface into a sinister monster that may come to life in an unguarded moment. The fast-moving, screen-filling wave turns the master of creation into a defenceless being. The characters have nowhere to run, and we don’t either. Thanks to the rumbling sound effects, this is one of the most impressive images of destruction that I have “endured” at the cinema in recent years with respect to the visceral experience that it provides. The 3D glasses were paradoxically unnecessary. ___ After we and the characters are pummelled by the uncontrollable force of nature,   the film smoothly transitions into a family melodrama. The demonstration of brilliant special effects alternates with acting that is tenacious in both body and soul. Naomi Watts excels and she suffers the most of all the characters (perhaps because that’s how it happened in reality, or perhaps because she is a woman and this is a melodrama). She is supported superbly and without superfluous words by Tom Holland, who fits his role even better than Ewan McGregor, whose tense emotional state is obviously only a matter of acting. ___ The change in the eldest son’s behaviour shows how drastically such an extreme experience can alter one’s personal hierarchy of values. Material conveniences are suddenly needless, a cola can becomes a valuable treasure and children can no longer rely on the fact that adults will take care of everything necessary. The previous relationship hierarchy has become broken, roles have been reversed. ___ The simple idea of the importance of family cohesion and helping each other is consistently, though with (understandable) tendencies toward melodramatic excess, woven into the narrative, which brings a sense of urgency to the retelling of an eight-year-old story. We have to face the fact that our loved ones will be the only people to help us in the event of an economic (or other) collapse predicted by the sceptics. ___ The greatest tension in the film is created by delaying the moment of the scattered family members’ reunion. We anticipate the re-establishment of the initial harmony due to the logic of the melodrama genre, which Bayona was clearly well aware of and he does everything he can to make us unsure of whether the restoration of the status quo will happen too late. It’s thus not surprising that the emotional highlight of the film is in the form of a masterfully arranged scene of multiple characters passing each other in space. ___ I would venture to say that such an emotionally concise, superbly directed melodrama that makes full use of the privileges of the big screen has not appeared in cinemas at least since Titanic. 80% (30.01.2013)

Finally, in this flood of dry and by-the-numbers award catchers, there is a film with heart that you can enjoy without a theoretical analysis. Impressive, intense, brilliantly made (the tsunami scene!) and touching like nothing in many years. Of course, sometimes the story is very clearly modified for the needs of the script (the casual mass reunion reminded me a little to the similarly made-up phone call in Argo). But when it works so well, who cares. (06.01.2013)

The director is insanely talented and the story is one of the saddest events of the current era. I knew that this was about to be an emotional ride. It’d be weird if it wasn’t. The story that is based on real-life events might be focusing on only one of many families, but at the same time, it reflects the stories of all the families that stayed there and were affected by the tsunami. The filmmaking is so good that I couldn’t even believe how well the director connected CGI with reality. I must admit that at times, I was just gaping at the screen. Well, not at times, more like for two whole hours. The environment was so real that I felt as if the Spanish author truly had some small village flooded so he could shoot this movie to show each and every one of us just how terrible it all looked when the tsunami came. The cherry on top and the reason I decided to give this movie five stars was the moment when I read that the survivors were watching the movie and they said that the atmosphere couldn’t have been any more accurate. Hats off! (18.06.2013)

Die Ausführung der Katastrophe hat mich umgeworfen, denn es ist eine Demonstration dessen, wie gut ein Filmemacher auch ohne eine Armee von Computern lediglich durch perspektivitsche Arbeiten mir Perspektive Drehmethodiken vorgehen kann. Meines Erachtens ist dies eine mit dem Untergang eines Schiffes in Life Of Pi - Schiffbruch mit Tiger und seinem mit Schlamm und Blut verschmierten Leben vollends gleichwertige Angelegenheit. Ansonsten - ich frage mich eben immer, ob die "wahre Geschichte" lediglich ein Alibi ist, um die üblichen Schemata und Klischees zu entschuldigen, oder ob der Filmemacher mehr als ein paar notorisch bekannte Lehren aus der Katastrophe über die Zerbrechlichkeit des Menschen sowie die Macht der Menschheit ziehen kann (der letzte, der mich wirklich fasziniert hat, war Danny Boyle und seine beinharte Amputation). The Impossible - Überleben ist alles rutscht meines Erachtens in Schlüsselmomenten zu einer unverdeckten Exploatation ab, wobei ich hierdurch bald sämtlichen zuschauerischen Reiz verloren habe (manchmal zögerte ich, ob die Überspanntheit immer noch ernst gemeint war - Erbrechen von Wimpern und Blut, wobei dies versehentlich wie eine B-Movie-Horrorszene aussieht). Ich möchte mehr als nur das sehen, was ich aus Dokumenten und Berichten weiß, obgleich dies auch eine meisterhafte Form hat. Aber das Gerede über die Sterne sowie das melodramatische Auslassen scheinen wie aus einem anderen Meer zu kommen als die realistische Schmutzwelle, die mich am Anfang so brutal gegen meinen Willen weggerrissen hat. Für Bayona halte ich eigentlich eher Worte des Respekts bereit, aber er sollte wirklich vorsichtig sein, wenn er sich ohne Hintergedanken den Erwartungen eines "Genres" unterwirft. Und es mal versuchen, zu graben, denn dieser Film ist eigentlich lediglich eine Art "Katastrophentourismus, wo aller Rätsel Lösung eine harmonische Liebe... sowie eine gute Versicherung ist. (30.01.2013)

As long as it focuses on a civilian start and subsequent perfect audiovisual experience, Bayona scores with practically every shot. Touching moments in the second half and the mutual passing in the rescue center, however, mostly missed me to my own surprise. I can simply see and acknowledge the strength in The Impossible, but I don't feel it. However, this doesn't take away anything from the amazing performances of the whole family. (12.02.2013)

Leider hat mich das emotional völlig verfehlt. Visuell beeindruckend, einige Momente sogar ausgezeichnet (die Heldin wird gespült und ihre schmerzhafte Unterwasserreise), aber im Laufe der Zeit wurde mir klar, dass es nicht mit einem herzzerreißenden Finale enden wird, obwohl sie es offensichtlich schon lange versuchen. Der letzte Teil schien mir außerdem schmerzhaft berechnet und die Zufälle hier haben mich zum Lachen gebracht. Bayona hat jedoch bewiesen, dass ihm auch das Hollywood-Drama nicht fremd ist, aber ich würde eher wieder etwas Ähnliches wie sein Werk "Das Waisenhaus" bevorzugen. (18.01.2013)

It hit me very hard. Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age. Perfectly played characters, neither Naomi Watts nor Ewan McGregor are trying to be falsely nice, the kids (like in reality) are sometimes begging for a spanking, but things rarely get out of hand. You can’t tell that when the wave washes everything away that it’s special effects. I don’t understand how they could film this so well without demolishing a hotel and defiling a bit of Thailand coastline. The introductory mayhem is replaced by emotionally draining search for the family split up by the catastrophe. And you know how everybody lies, saying they didn’t cry at the end of Titanic? That applies here for a whole half of the movie. The Impossible is a sincere tear-jerker with a powerful ending. Bayona is a director I will have to look out for in the future. His style turned a regular disaster movie into a breath-taking event where chills run up and down your spine, you feel nauseous and at the end you’re be so relieved that later you will cuddle up tight to your better half, female or male. I’m scared too. (04.02.2013)

Neither a pumped up eye-candy blockbuster, nor unnecessarily split emotions made in Spain, but it brings out the good from both. From the very first shots, you can see J.A. Bayona has talent, and the action sequence with the tsunami sweeps you away with its breathtaking visuals and uncompromising authenticity and clarity. The middle and final search part is a bit weaker in terms of both the script and pacing, but it still holds onto the necessary big emotions and, thanks to the capable director's hand, it doesn't slip into sentimentality, and when it does, only marginally, which can be endured. Naomi Watts is the best actress of our time. (14.07.2015)

Ein sehr sehr sehr guter Film. Stark, gefühlvoll, richtig dramatisch und vielleicht auch authentisch (zumindest wirkt er so). Die Schauspielleistungen der Erwachsenen sowie der Kinder sind perfekt. Der Regisseur hat manchmal fast "malickartige“ Momente hervorgezaubert (dabei hat ihm auch die meditative Musik geholfen). Während der 113 Minuten habe ich nur ein paarmal gezwinkert, damit ich nichts verpasse. Am Anfang wurden die Hauptfiguren nur in Grundzügen dargestellt. Das Drehbuch hat auf Einblendungen einer zufriedenen Vergangenheit sowie Aufnahmen von Verwandten auf dem anderen Ende der Welt, die Angst haben, verzichtet. Das hat mir sehr gefallen.__PS: Lesen Sie die Inhaltsangabe nicht! (04.05.2014)

A painful and thorough reconstruction of a great natural catastrophe, delivered mainly through the physical and mental suffering of the protagonists, with whom the viewer feels for until the last second, clinging like a tick to that sliver of hope that is the only thing that helps to keep their sanity in such a situation. I haven't kept my fingers crossed for film characters that much in a long time, and perhaps no film has ever made me cheer not for nature but for helpless and suffering people. When you watch Naomi Watts and see how incredibly real her torn and bruised face looks and every cry of pain feels, you can't help but put your feet up on the sofa and keep watching, even though there is no doubt about the "happy ending". Director Bayona doesn't have to worry about work, because here he squeezed all the juice out of the premise, and judging by the praise from the real people who were there, he squeezed it in a clearly correct and effective way :-) 80% (01.09.2013)

Juan Antonio Bayona has mainly a great horror film "The Orphanage", which is one of the best horror films of Spanish origin, but not only that. This Spaniard showed us that it can still be done without blood or found footage. However, in the film "The Impossible", he took a different approach and decided to make a film based on true events. On the other hand, it must be said that in terms of tension and fear, this film is at a really high level. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2013/02/nic-nas-nerozdeli-2012-70.html (21.03.2013)