The Impossible is always aware of how this traumatic experience would be filtered through this particular family. Trudging in a daze through the post-storm muck, Lucas repeatedly averts his eyes from Maria’s torn shirt, which exposes both her wounds and a bare breast. A touch like that says so much not only about their dire situation, but about this moment in time in the relationship between mother and son.
Watts is a marvel – she gives Maria a ferocity that only increases as her hope and health start to fade. Holland matches her beat for beat as a boy instantaneously forced into becoming a man. Lucas’ progression from fearful kid to heroic adult, all under the determined tutelage of Maria, is authentically inspiring. The Impossible earns every tear – of both sorrow and relief – that it gets…
