|
|
|
The Impossible
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (7th August 2016). |
|
The Film
 “The Impossible” (2012) The Bennett family are visiting Thailand for the year-end holiday season. The father Henry (played by Ewan McGregor) has some worries along the trip - possibly that he forgot to set the house alarm before flying out, and constantly checking his phone with worries about his work. The mother Maria (played by Naomi Watts) is a former doctor and now a stay-at home mother for their three children. The oldest Lucas (played by Tom Holland) is a pre-teen who is on the verge of wanting independence, rather than having to be a babysitter for his two younger brothers the seven year old Thomas (played by Samuel Joslin) and the five year old Simon (played by Oaklee Pendergast). Staying at a beautiful newly opened resort in Khao Lak right on the coast of the Indian Ocean, the weather is perfect, the view is gorgeous, and Christmas Day is all they could hope for - with the opening of presents, playing at the beach, snorkeling in the ocean, and a beautiful lantern raising for the locals and tourists in the evening. The next morning, on December 26th, 2004, the family are out at the resort swimming pool along with many other hotel guests when a sudden gust of wind and a tremble of the ground stops everyone. What comes next is a massive tsunami triggered by the 9.1 magnitude Indian Ocean earthquake, and the family gets completely separated being swept away by the incoming waves. The story of a family of five separated by the 2004 tsunami and eventually reunited is seemingly impossible, but this was based on a true life account of one family who miraculously survived the tragedy which took the lives of more than 230,000 people in over 14 countries - many thousands being tourists visiting seaside areas during the winter vacation. Maria’s real life counterpart María Belón - a Spanish physicist and advocate for survivors of the tsunami whose family of five survived the ordeal quite similarly to the events in the film - her right leg being ripped open, the injuries to her chest, and massive loss of blood, how she was able to first unite with her eldest son, and how the locals helped her to a nearby overcrowded hospital. The Spanish producers and director J.A. Bayona heard about her survival story through a radio program and decided that this was the immediate next production to be scheduled. For authenticity, Belón was brought in as co-screenwriter and supervisor working alongside with screenwriter Sergio G. Sánchez who previously had written the screenplay for “The Orphanage” the film also directed by Bayona in 2007 to critical acclaim. With “The Orphanage” Bayona directed an unshakably scary supernatural horror film that gave the audience tears with the heartbreaking and heartwarming story. For “The Impossible” Bayona directed an unshakably scary true disaster film that gave audiences tears with the heartbreaking and heartwarming story. It’s all about the characters and even if the backstories of each and every character are not in depth, they are enough to give true connections to each person, both in the Bennet family and with the other survivors stranded and also looking for their families. Sönke Möhring who plays the German tourist looking for his family, fortunately had an injured leg and therefore was still in the upper area of the hotel during the tsunami strike gives a wonderful performance with his very limited screen time. Geraldine Chaplin who is there more or less for a cameo appearance in a single scene gives a hopeful and inspirational talk to the young boys waiting for their father. Chaplin, the daughter of Charles was and is still one of the most recognizable figures in European cinema as she is also fluent in French and Spanish, was also in Bayona’s previous film “The Orphanage”. Naomi Watts went to extremes with the performance, with massive injuries and near death experiences in the water and on the operating tables. Her performance is a standout, even if she could barely walk or talk for the most part. Ewan McGregor’s scene on the borrowed cellphone is one of the most heart crushing moments in his career in which the tears look absolutely real when he must tell his father-in-law that he cannot find the rest of the family. Tom Holland who is the new Marvel ”Spider-man” (2017) is also a standout - starting off as an angered and frustrated child that becomes the helpful and caring boy doing more than the grown-ups can. Bayona’s attention to detail in “The Orphanage” was particular, from the set dressings to costumes to the ghostly designs, making the visuals very memorable. For “The Impossible” the visuals are on a much bigger scale. The tsunami scenes were recreated with water tanks in Spain with scaled miniatures for destruction, the exterior shots were mostly filmed on location in Khao Lak, Thailand where the true story took place. Quite a lot of cinematic techniques were used for the visuals - Steadicam shots, handheld shots, POV home video shots, slow motion, and more. The opening scenes of the beach before the quake are gorgeous while the later scenes are devastatingly violent, dirty, and painful. Everyone who sees the first visible shot of Maria’s leg gasps in terror, the scene of Maria and the other hospital patient throwing up the black gunk from the tsunami they swallowed is another that makes people close their eyes. But they really happened. There are some cinematic liberties taken with the story. The subplot of “Daniel” was fictional, but most likely inspired with truth. Lucas helping people look for families in the hospital as well, since the film counterpart Lucas could speak English as a common language for tourists looking for their families while the real life Lucas was a 10 year old who only spoke Spanish. But these changes were supervised by María Belón, who was on set to give additional help with details and characterizations. Some people have accused the film of whitewashing. With the hundreds of thousands of locals who died and or were injured, why was the film concentrating on a white family of English-speaking tourists? I’ve heard one person say the film’s trailer should have opened with ”In a world, where only white people survive….”. Why could it not be a Spanish family speaking Spanish? Why change them to an British family? With the change to English, there is certain marketability added to the film internationally. Second, Belon has stated that much of the time they were speaking English anyway. With all the tourists, English was the common language that people communicated in the hospitals, in the hotel, and in the shelters, so even if the family was made as a Spanish family, half of the film would have been in English anyway. So interestingly as a Spanish production, it was entirely filmed with English with some unsubtitled Thai. As for why this was “white people” and not the locals, this was the one experience of a European family. There are thousands of other stories of families reuniting, and thousands of stories of families forever lost. There are other films made dealing with the disaster such as ”Kayal” (2014) which was released in India exactly 10 years after the incident that sets a love story when the tsunami hit, and the science fiction set ”Dasavatharam” (2008) which was a box office success. Clint Eastwood directed the forgettable “Hereafter” which opens with the Indian Ocean tsunami and the effects of a survivor. Of the so far few films that have dealt with the Indian Ocean disaster, “The Impossible” is by far the best and most respectful to the survivors and the departed, and the most well made. Spectacular effects, top notch acting, and an unforgettable story, it’ll be hard to sit through without tears running down your face. The film opened in Spain in October of 2012 and grossed an astounding US$54 million against a US$45 million budget. The film opened worldwide in the following months and has high grosses in the United Kingdom, China, and Mexico, but did not have much in the United States or in Thailand. In the US, Lionsgate opened the film for awards season but never expanded it above a 1000 theaters, only to gross US$19 million in its theatrical run. In Thailand, people may not have been ready for the film, and grossed less than US$1 million theatrically. In Japan the film was released nearly half a year late, with promotion being slim - as they could not advertise with commercials or trailers with the tsunami scenes as Japan had their massive tsunami hit only 2 years prior. The film was highly acclaimed by critics and audiences. It won all 6 Gaudi Awards it was nominated for, it was nominated for 14 Goya Awards and won 5, and Naomi Watts was nominated for Best Actress at both the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards. Note this is a region A Blu-ray which can only be played back on region A or region free players.
Video
Lionsgate presents the film in 1080p in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 in the AVC MPEG-4 codec. The film looks quite flawless with beautiful colors or the seaside of Khao Lak and the underwater segments, and also the dirty brown of the destroyed landscape in the latter portion. There is one portion which has the character of Henry using a video camera to shoot on Christmas morning, and this scene is in windowboxed 1.78:1 with some minor video errors. Note that the errors and not as clear visuals are intentional. The total runtime for the film is 113:42.
Audio
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 The original English track is offered in lossless 5.1 and is a great one. The massive tsunami scene is a whirlwind of sound effects of water crashing, trees knocking over, structures being demolished, with yelling and screaming. The music score by Fernando Velázquez who also scored “The Orphanage” is a memorable one and the music comes in through all the surrounding speakers, while dialogue is almost entirely centered. There are passages that the characters whisper or are a little hard to hear because of volume levels, but for the most part it is very clear. In addition there is also an alternate Spanish lossless track as a dub. There are optional English, English HoH, Spanish subtitles for the main feature in a white font. There was one instance the English subtitles disappeared from the screen a little too quickly but otherwise they are timed correctly and have no trouble of spelling errors.
Extras
Audio commentary by director J.A. Bayona, writer Sergio C. Sánchez, producer Belén Atienza and real life survivor María Belón Bayona and Atienza provide a lot of technical info on the film, while Sánchez and Belón offer a lot of the real life stories plus a few changes from fact to fiction. This English-language commentary is wonderful to hear even if English is not any of their first languages. in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with no subtitles "Casting The Impossible" featurette (6:37) Made with interviews with the cast and crew, this featurette explores the casting process and how special it was for them to be portraying real people that went through the ordeal. in 1080p, in 1.78:1, AVC MPEG-4, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with no subtitles "Realizing The Impossible" featurette (5:54) This featurette focuses on recreating the disaster, from model making, constructing large tanks, and shooting in Thailand. in 1080p, in 1.78:1, AVC MPEG-4, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with no subtitles} Deleted Scenes - "Hanging On" (1:28) - "Granddad's Number" (1:54) - "Easing the Pain" (2:23) - "Where's Everyone Going?" (0:47) - "At the Airport" (2:02) All the deleted scenes are fully edited but not in finished form, with special effects, music and sound effects not fully done. Most of the scenes are inconsequential, but the final deleted scene should have been in the final film. But I’m not the director…. in 1080p, in 2.35:1, MPEG-2, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with no subtitles Theatrical Trailer (2:24) The US PG-13 theatrical trailer in 1080p, in 2.35:1, MPEG-2, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with no subtitles Start-up trailers for "Now You See Me", "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" (4:16) These can be skipped via remote. in 1080p, in 1.78:1/1.85:1, MPEG-2, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with no subtitles Start-up promo for Happy Hearts Fund (1:02) An organization that helps disaster stricken areas, with comments from Naomi Watts. This can also be skipped via remote. in 1080i 60hz, in 1.78:1, AVC MPEG-4, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 with no subtitles The amount of extras is basically average, with no special additions like a documentary on the devastation, additional interviews with survivors, or news footage. Worldwide, all editions basically have the same extras, but the UK release from Entertainment One adds nearly 2 hours of interviews with the cast and crew.
Overall
“The Impossible” is one of the most devastating and emotional true disaster movies ever made. While one film cannot truly show the complete devastation of the loss of the lives of 230,000 people on that fateful day in 2004, this is one story that must be seen to be believed. Lionsgate gives the film a great transfer with audio and video, great commentary but with minor video extras. Still a very high recommendation.
|
|||||
|