DVD Movie: The Impossible

On Sunday, December 26, 2004, countries bordering the Indian Ocean experienced one of the deadliest natural disasters, an enormous tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean. Over 230,000 people died in fourteen countries from the tsunami which produced waves approximately 100 feet high. Most of the dead, injured and missing were locals from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. These countries are also popular tourist destinations for Westerners, who enjoy vacationing at resorts in Indonesian and Thailand over Christmas. As a result many tourists also lost their lives, with most families losing at least one member. But for the Belon Alvarez family from Spain, the impossible happened - the entire family survived against all odds. The Impossible tells their story.

Maria Belon Alvarez and her family consisting of her husband Quique (Enrique) Alvarez and their three sons, ten-year-old Lucas, eight-year-old Tomas, and five-year-old Simon, had only just arrived at the resort in Khao Lak, Thailand on Christmas Eve. On the morning of December 26, the family was lounging at the resort's pool when Maria heard a thunderous noise that she could not identify. Instantly she and her family were swept away, through the churning waters filled with debris and bodies. 

Maria and her son Lucas managed to find each other quickly and cling to a tree. Maria had serious injuries including a terrible chest wound and a more serious deep wound to her leg. They took refuge in a large tree but Maria could feel her life ebbing away. Eventually they were found by a Thai man who dragged Maria through the swampy area to a village and then made sure she was taken to a hospital. Lucas was certain he would not have survived if he had not jumped into the resort pool as the wave hit.

Meanwhile her husband, Quique had lost his grip on the two boys, Tomas and Simon. However, he found both boys clinging to trees. Determined to find Maria and Lucas, Quique left Tomas and Simon with adults at the hotel and limped through dozens of hospitals and camps before finally locating Maria and Lucas at Takua Pa Hospital. Eventually the family made its way to Singapore where Maria was treated further for her serious injuries.

Discussion

The Impossible accurately portrays the experiences of the Belon Alvarez family during and after the tsunami, switching out the nationality of the family to that of a British family and changing their names to Maria and Henry Bennett. Maria Belon was intimately involved in the process of making the movie, choosing her favourite actress, Naomi Watts to portray her and working on location in Thailand where the movie was filmed to ensure their story was faithfully retold.

Central to The Impossible is a story that is both overwhelming and unbelievable. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor give solid performances as Maria and Henry Bennett, in shock, disoriented, wounded and yet struggling to save their children and to process the magnitude of what has just happened to them. Maria who was a doctor, knew her life was in danger and feared that she would die leaving Lucas alone. Lucas played by Tom Holland, knew he needed to be strong, to encourage his critically injured mother to survive.

Although the scenes portraying the tsunami seem incredibly realistic, they are obviously nowhere near what survivors and victims encountered. Yet likely due to Maria Belon's presence during filming, small details are present in the movie that survivor accounts mention; the flight of birds away from the seashore, a sudden unexplained wind and the screams of people in the water. Even the water, turbulent, brown and filled with deadly debris of all kinds was accurately portrayed. This was best demonstrated by the flashback Maria has during surgery, showing her being battered by all manner of debris, tree branches, broken chairs, glass and objects that can't be identified. It's easy to understand how so many people died not just from drowning but also from terrible injuries due to the debris. Most people who ended up in the water did not remain clothed as Maria and Lucas were; the force of the waves simply ripped away all clothing. The movie does hint at this when Lucas is traveling with his mother to a hospital and he sees a completely stark naked man, dazed, walking by the side of the road. 

The Impossible also captures the state of confusion in hospitals and make-shift camps which are quickly overwhelmed with injured survivors and people searching for lost family and friends. In some places the water traveled up to  two kilometers inland, devastating villages and crops. Yet despite the horror of what happened, despite having lost everything they owned, as the movie shows, the Thai people selflessly helped tourists, seeing that they were brought to hospitals to be treated. Maria experienced this, when she was dragged through the mud by a Thai man who ensured she was transported to hospital. The movie also portrays the patience and kindness of the Thai people in coping with a disaster of gigantic proportions in a country lacking the resources and infrastructure to do so.

The Impossible was criticized for whitewashing - that is taking Third World tragedy in which the majority of people who were affected were brown people, Indonesian and Thai - and making a movie about a white family who eventually returned home to their lives in Spain without having to deal with the lasting devastation. However, this movie is about a unique story - a family, who against enormous odds, everyone survived - the impossible. It tells one family's story and that is all. It does not minimize the impact the tsunami had on the local population nor does it trivialize their suffering. There are scenes where we see dead Thai people and a truckload of children most of whom are Thai. We see the devastated countryside and villages.

Be prepared for a movie that packs an emotional punch unlike many of the disaster films that have preceded this one. Though one family is the focus here, the emotional, economic and human costs of the 2004 tsunami tragedy are evident even in the last shots as the family flies out of Thailand to Singapore. The Impossible was directed by Juan Antonio Boyona. As an interesting aside, the producers decided to make this film after hearing Maria Belon speak about her family's experiences on Spanish radio. If you missed this movie in theatres, it's time to watch it on DVD.

The Killing Sea by Richard Lewis

The Killing Sea is a novel about the 2004 tsunami which killed an estimated 250,000 people.

The story opens on the day before the tsunami, December 25, 2004, with an American family, the Bedford's on vacation in the small harbour town of Meulaboh. They have stopped in the port to have the engine in their small chartered sailboat repaired. Ruslan who lives in Meulaboh, understands English and sends them to his father Yusuf who is a mechanic. Once their sailboat is repaired they sail out of the harbour and anchor for the night off the coast of Sumatra.

Meanwhile, Ruslan, who is a talented artist, cannot forget the deep blue eyes of Sarah Bedford. Ruslan lives with his father in the village. His father, appreciative of Ruslan's artistic gifts, plans to send him to arts college in Jakarta.

Early the next morning a magnitude 9.2 earthquake hits the area, just offshore. Sarah and her family feel the quake as a dull but deep thud. They know immediately that they are in trouble because the reef they are anchored near is drying up, the water receding quickly out to sea. Their sailboat, the Dreamcatcher is trapped, aground and as they look out to the ocean, to their horror they see a wall of water coming towards them. Sarah, her father and mother and younger brother Peter abandon the boat and try to make it to shore to the safety of the hills. It is a race against time they have little chance of winning.

Sarah and her brother Peter survive the tsunami, but Peter has been injured by swallowing water and needs medical attention. Sarah's and Peter's journey becomes one to find help for Peter.

For Ruslan, the quake hits Meulaboh shortly after he finishes breakfast. When he runs to the waterfront to check on his father, he like others in the town, gasp in wonder at the receding water. For reasons, unknown to Ruslan, he begins running away from the ocean as fast as he can. He stops at his home to grab a shirt and sandals and tries to outrun the oncoming black water. But soon he is cut off from every point of escape. His only option is to get to the top of a house and ride out the flood. Ruslan watches in horror as people he knows drown or are crushed in the black refuse-choked waters. He survives but does not know the fate of his father. Eventually Ruslan learns that he went to visit relatives that day in the Calang region. So his journey is to find his missing father.

Discussion

The story is told in the alternating voices of Sarah and Ruslan as they journey first separately and then together towards safety and reuniting with their families. Chapters often end with some kind of tension that is resolved in the next chapter narrated by the character.

Lewis deftly demonstrates to his readers how the physical disaster combined with the political turmoil and Third World character in the Banda Aceh region contribute to the suffering of the people after this catastrophe. Items taken for granted in wealthy Western countries, such as antibiotics, fever medication and even doctors, simply do not exist in poor underdeveloped areas like Aceh.

Lewis incorporated much of what he learned about this tsunami from working as a volunteer in Aceh after the disaster into the novel. He spoke with survivors and refugees and this helped him in the crafting of his story.

Book Details:
The Killing Sea by Richard Lewis
New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 2006
183 pp.