At the beginning of the 2012 movie that is currently trending on Netflix,The Impossible, everything is going perfectly for Maria Bennett (Naomi Watts), her husband Henry (Ewan McGregor), and their three sons, Lucas (Tom Holland) Thomas (Samuel Josin), and little Simon (Oaklee Pendergast). They have come to Thailand for the Christmas holidays in 2004. They are enjoying the luxury resort, taking part in the local customs, and enjoying being together. They even take videos of Christmas morning capturing the exuberant boys tearing open gifts and experiencing the excitement of the holiday. Little do they know that the following day their lives will be turned upside down by one of the worst natural disasters to ever strike the Southeastern Asian coast.The Impossibleis based on the very true storyof the unexpected tragedy of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and theBelon-Alvarez’s family fight for survival, with the events captured in the film taken from the experiences of real people. The ending of the movie is as surprising as it is unlikely, so let’s rehash everything that happens in the film’s emotional ending.
The Impossible
The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The Bennett Family Gets Caught in a Devastating Tsunami
After enjoying a perfect day at a high-end resort, the Bennett’s undergo trauma the likes of which most of us could never imagine. An enormous wave sweeps swiftly across the coastline and carries everyone and everything along with it. There is no time to take cover or seek higher ground as the wave is upon them in a matter of seconds. Maria and Lucas, incredibly,are able to reunite after a horrific and harrowing near-drowning, but they have no idea what has happened to Henry and the two youngest boys, who are both under the age of ten. The first half of the movie follows the trials of Maria and Lucas.
Initially, all any of our protagonists are thinking about is survival. The waters are running hard and fast, obliterating the land underneath. Lucas and Maria are swept away in fairly close proximity to one another and eventually manage to reunite, but not beforeMaria is severely wounded by the violent current. She sustains a deep gash in her leg, and it gets progressively worse as infection sets in. It is up to the young Lucas to step up and save her. Lucas proves to be up to the task and manages to not only pull Maria through the ruins but also pick up a little boy named Daniel who has somehow managed to survive the tsunami.Holland is remarkable in this role, giving a dramatic performance well beyond his years. He andWatts have terrific chemistrythat carries the movie along while Maria’s bloodied body is dragged through the carnage knowing that her wound is collecting copious amounts of mud and debris, making for a difficult watch. After Lucas gets Maria and Daniel to a dilapidated triage hospital that is overrun with both the injured survivors and the dead, he makes it his mission to not only ensure Maria is tended to but to help other victims reunite with their families.
We catch up with Henry at about the halfway mark of the movie. He has made his way back to what is left of the hotel. To the relief of the audience,Simon and Thomas are also there and safe, with all three mostly unharmed. Henry tells Thomas that he is sending him and his little brother with a group to a safe haven in the mountains as he continues to look for Mari and Lucas. Poor Thomas is understandably terrified to be separated from his father, but Henry tells him he has to be brave and take care of five-year-old Simon. After the boys are gone, a kind stranger allows Henry to use his phone to call home (after a rude American refused early). This results in one of the most emotional scenes in the film,featuring some of McGregor’s best acting. As he’s on the phone with Maria’s father, he breaks down crying but regains his strength to promise him that he will find the rest of his family and bring them home.
How Do the Family Reunite in ‘The Impossible’?
It’s the next day and Maria’s condition has gotten much worse,to the point that it looks like she might die. Henry has arrived at the hospital that we know Lucas and Maria are at (but Henry doesn’t). When Lucas gets a glimpse of Henry from an upper level, he runs after him but eventually loses him, but while standing in the middle of the street, he just starts to yell for his father at the top of his lungs. Henry is about to leave believing they are not there, but he sees a red ball similar to the one they were playing with at the beginning of the movie. At the same time, the group with Tomas and Simon arrive at the hospital in the dilapidated truck. Just as the truck is about to leave, they hear Lucas' cries and run to him,the three brothers reunited at last. As they are embracing, Henry spots the boys and calls for Lucas, reuniting the father and three sons in one of the film’s most beautiful shots.
Lucas brings them to Maria who is still just barely holding on. As she goes in for her operation, the Bennett boys wait for news, comforted only by the fact that they are together again. Lucas can get some sleep when he has a dream of seeing his mom impossibly making it through the brutal wave almost drowning only to make it to the surface triumphantly. He awakens to his dad, Henry, telling him that his mom has survived surgery. The family manages to arrange transportation out of Thailand to Singapore where she will receive the best treatment possible.
The Bennett Family Fly to Safety at the End of ‘The Impossible’
Maria is still in critical condition as she is put on a gurney and taken to a nearby plane that willfly the family off the island and to Singapore. Lucas and Maria have an emotional exchange before they take off, and he can tell her that little Daniel survived and is with his father. They have a few seconds to realize how fortunate they are to be aboard the plane and flown away from the utterdevastation caused by the tsunami. We see several messages revealed before takeoff. One is the name “Muriel Barnes” written on the forearm of Maria.She is one of the 230,000 people who diedin the tragic tsunami that was the result of the Indian Ocean earthquake. Henry finds a note in his pocket that reads, “We Went Back to the Beach.” This was a note left for Karl (Sonke Mohring) by his wife which sadly indicates that his family is dead. Karl is a German man who accompanied him on his quest to find his family. The final scene portrays a sickly but circumspect Maria looking out the window of the plane, completely overwhelmed both physically and emotionally. She cries as she looks upon the obliterated coastline and the devastation as they fly to safety.
