The Impossible: Genre Conventions

Shawnie Jones                           The Impossible: Genre Conventions                        

'The Impossible' directed by Juan Antonio Bayona and released in the UK in 2012 is definitely a film that is an example of a disaster movie. The genre of the film is disaster and the film makers have used many interesting techniques and features to make it successful.

The film tells the true story of the Bennet family who travel to Thailand for the Christmas holidays, expecting a relaxing break. However they actually experience the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The main characters, Maria, Henry and their three sons were at the pool side, enjoying a very normal day in the sun. While Maria reads alone on a sun bed the boys are in the pool with their father. The wind suddenly picks up and a page from Maria’s book flies along the poolside floor. We see a confused look on Maria's face, the thoughts of a sudden change in weather and wind in a hot country. A series of events then happen in relation to the pick up of the wind including, the blender cutting out and music stopping, birds fleeing from the direction of the beach and the ball rolling out of the pool and along the floor. The birds fleeing from the beach is quite a pivotal part of the film and one which the audience will associate with the impending disaster and largely foreshadows the event that is about to happen. Shortly after disaster strikes. The family are separated and on a mission of survival and to find each other.

Like all good disaster movies ' The Impossible' includes many traditional disaster genre conventions. I believe the most crucial conventions are, presence of children, obstacles to overcome and other characters' stories running alongside the disaster story-for human interest.

A major impacting feature of 'the Impossible', like many other disaster movie, is the inclusion of children and the impression this leaves on the viewer. Usage of child trauma naturally affects the audience and in this particular case, the Bennet children. Using children heightens the tension for an audience because of their vulnerability. An example of this is the film is when Lucas, unaware of any danger, leaves the pool to retrieve the red ball. The ball being red signifies the colour of danger, to us viewers. As the camera does an extreme close-up shot of the ball being controlled by Lucas's foot, the wave comes roaring over the holiday resort. Lucas, standing alone, is engulfed by the wave as he dives into the pool. This makes him look vulnerable as he is all alone and still so young to have to go through a trauma like that by himself. Another key part of the film where children are used to make an impact is when Henry explains to the two youngest boys, Simon and Thomas, that he is going to leave them to search for Maria and Lucas. There is a close-up of Thomas's face which shows his fear. He says to Henry 'I've never looked after someone before. I’m scared.' This is an emotional part of the film and is emphasising the theme of separation.

Another key feature in the film is Obstacles to Overcome. All disaster films are likely to contain a series of obstacles for the protagonist to overcome, it adds tension to the film. 'The Impossible is no different, containing obvious task for the main characters to work around in the tsunami sequence including; the fast current, being injured by trees and debris, the mattress, the second wave and many more. However not all obstacles the family have to tackle are as obvious for example, Henry trying to get in touch back home, Henry having to keep the younger boys safe in the mountains and again many others too. A huge obstacle was when Maria was in the hospital, not knowing if she was going to get the treatment quickly that she needed. Maria says to Lucas ' I need some antibiotics' but he replies 'I can't read the labels. They are all in Thai.' This obstacle is made even harder when they find out the staff don't speak English and the hospital is extremely busy and chaotic. Mise-en-scene includes a packed building, close-ups of insanitary conditions and the inclusion of many hundreds of extras to play the parts of patients and relatives who have not et been