Heart-Rending Trailer for The Impossible Starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts
Posted 08.22.12 by BrentJS
After making the rounds at the American Film Market for the last two years running, Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona's (The Orphanage) first English-language feature, The Impossible, will finally debut at next month's Toronto International Film Festival, in advance of its currently scheduled limited theatrical release in the U.S. in December. Based on a true story, The Impossible stars Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts as a husband and wife on vacation with their three sons in Thailand during the tsunami that devastated the country and much of Southeast Asia in December 2004. Set to Damien Rice's haunting cover of U2's "One," the new trailer for the movie is a heart-rending reminder of the power of nature's fury and the fragility of life.
Here's the synopsis of The Impossible:
Maria (Naomi), Henry (McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her.
Henry grabs the two youngest boys, Simon (Oaklee Pendergast) and Thomas (Samuel Joslin), but it’s too late: the wave smashes into him with incredible force and dislodges his grip. Maria is pushed underwater, where she is crushed and battered by debris to the brink of death. She finally surfaces in a raging black sea, which has completely submerged her three-story hotel and the surrounding landscape. Maria gasps for breath while she tries to understand what has just happened, convinced that her family has been obliterated in the blink of an eye. But then, her eldest son, Lucas (Tom Holland), surfaces a few meters ahead in the wild flood. Face-to-face with something unexpected and incomprehensible, she must fight against all odds for her child’s survival. And her own.
Based on a true story, The Impossible is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, The Impossible is a journey to the core of the human heart.
Next Showing: The Impossible opens Dec. 21st