

(60 Posts)
CatPussRoastingOnAnOpenFire Sun 30-Dec-12 23:09:48





Every war and disaster is told from a western white perspective, so it isn't a surprise that this is, to.

From a money making POV i suppose that it is thought that the audience will be bigger portraying a white family than an asian one.

wongadotmom Sun 30-Dec-12 23:25:39


I was unfortunate enough to see the trailer for the movie in the cinema with DD (12) whilst we were watching Skyfall. There was no warning beforehand of the trailer's suitability to be viewed in a 12a movie.
And if there had been, I would still argue the suitability. I was distraught after seeing graphic images of the tsunami - which isn't just movie stuff, this actually happened, and not that long ago either - with people, including children, struggling in the water, fighting for theri lives, and, for many, drowning. It was horrific! I was really upset by the end of the trailer, as was DD, and I will never see the film.

(I realise this isn't really addressing your point, but just had to vent, I was apalled!)

CatPussRoastingOnAnOpenFire Sun 30-Dec-12 23:28:49

Well it kind of is part of my point! I just dont feel that this needs to be turned into a movie. It was a huge national disaster. Not entertainment!

gordyslovesheep Sun 30-Dec-12 23:30:50

link to reviews

maybe you should see it and judge if those 'reviews' are true

gordyslovesheep Sun 30-Dec-12 23:32:29

oh and it was NOT a national disaster - more than one nation was effected

a western film using westerners as focus is not unusual - it allows the viewer to identify with the subject ...and hopefully that will lead to wider empathy

difficultpickle Sun 30-Dec-12 23:32:43

I won't be going to see it as I think the tv trailers and release date are incredibly crass and insensitive.

rogersmellyonthetelly Sun 30-Dec-12 23:32:57

I think it's just wrong to make entertainment (and money) out of a disaster like this. Titanic was bad enough nearly 100 years after the event, the tsunami is too recent and too raw. People are still grieving loved ones. It's just so wrong.

CatPussRoastingOnAnOpenFire Sun 30-Dec-12 23:34:29

I don't want to see it. Those reviews are just backing up my initial thoughts. This isnt made up escapism. This is real life. The idea of this film makes me feel sick.

CatPussRoastingOnAnOpenFire Sun 30-Dec-12 23:35:24

Sorry, national should say natural! blush

RedToothbrush Sun 30-Dec-12 23:37:29

CatPussRoastingOnAnOpenFire Sun 30-Dec-12 23:28:49

How many movies related to WWI and WWII have there been? Isn't the subject of a great many films based in someway on real life disaster? Or other things like murders? How many years need to pass before a disaster becomes acceptable as an entertainment subject? Is this related to how many people die or their nationality or something? I'm not sure.

Personally I think its good to remember certain events as we can learn important lessons from history, even if its in the form of entertainment, and even if its bias is distorted and doesn't reflect the whole story.

NaturalBaby Sun 30-Dec-12 23:37:32

I don't understand why anyone would want to go see this movie. It's amazing the whole family survived but surrounded by such devastation it's hardly the point.

gordyslovesheep Sun 30-Dec-12 23:37:58

ahhh got you grin

I take your point but you don't have to see it - just avoid it - I dislike torture porn/horror but they still make it and people still watch it

Greythorne Sun 30-Dec-12 23:39:34

Looks horrifying and frightening.
Who would want to go and see something which was probably the most horrendous life experience ever for those involved?
Strange and disturbing.

And that's without the "let's cast the main characters as blonde because white people are so much more tragic when they die" issue.

ratbagcatbag Sun 30-Dec-12 23:39:48

Agree with Bisjo and think the timing is incredibly insensitive. I remember watching the documentary on it and sobbing. Think it's in very poor taste.

Trills Sun 30-Dec-12 23:40:45


It is a 12a film.

Trills Sun 30-Dec-12 23:41:19

I thought the music was beautiful and evocative and very emotional and in genera very well done.

The film didn't look particularly interesting though.

CatPussRoastingOnAnOpenFire Sun 30-Dec-12 23:44:44

What lesson can be learned from a film about a natural disaster?
I don't like war films either, but certain war films do help to remind people of the lessons to be learned from history.

LetsFaceThePresentsTheyrePants Sun 30-Dec-12 23:48:02

I love a disaster movie but I couldn't watch this.sad

ChasingAwhiterabbit Mon 31-Dec-12 00:25:58

wongadotmom 'Skyfall' is a 12a and 'The Impossible' is also a 12a. I'm sorry you were both upset but 12a film trailer being shown before a 12a film is not something you can complain about and you should have comprehended this might happen.

As for 'The Impossible' with everyone saying it is too soon. When is the exact amount of time that would make it ok? There are many films about the 9/11 tragedy, are they too soon?

'The Impossible' is based on the real life story of a Spanish family.

Yes, the white family is at the centre stage, however people are more interested in what is close to them. Remember the debate before over there being more publicity about the Newport shootings?

However I don’t think there is anything racist about wanting to tell it. People seem to be implying they don’t have the right to tell their story because they’re white.

Maybe I am not as race-sensitive.

Also Thai locals’ stories are also represented, for example, there’s a scene with actual survivors of the tsunami explaining what happened to them.

People here are analyzing only the trailer here, not the actual film. Go see it if it interests you, otherwise ignore it.

MichelleRooJnr Mon 31-Dec-12 00:38:46

My sister's friend was there and survived the tsunami.
I asked her how she feels about the movie and she says she's glad people are seeing just how terrible it was as she (who has never worked since, had a lot of therapy and is a different person) feels people look at her and wonder why she's making such a big deal out of it, like she lived so should be able to 'just move on'.
She reckons a lot of people who know people who were affected by it will re-evaluate their attitudes and realise what an unimaginable horror those people, including the survivors, experienced.
And in turn - it may make people who see it more empathetic to anyone who has experienced a trauma and is struggling to recover / 'move on'.
I know hers is just one survivor's opinion, but I see her point.

Startail Mon 31-Dec-12 00:54:29

Documentaries of disasters are one thing.

May be even fictionalised TV dramas, but a film you choose to go out, pay for and sit through eating pop corn and drinking Coke.

No that doesn't feel respectful.

Applefallsfarfromthetree Mon 31-Dec-12 00:57:06

So fictionalised TV dramas are ok because they are just on tv?

But if these dramas were shown on a big screen and people paid to see it then that makes it disrespectful?

Applefallsfarfromthetree Mon 31-Dec-12 01:08:15

And also a genuine question, do people who find this film offensive also find films like Schindler's List offensive too?

That was only around 67 years ago.

Startail Tue 01-Jan-13 11:35:24

The movie industries whole purpose is to make money.

Yes so are many TV channels, but somehow, putting a topic like this on the big screen feels wrong.

I associate the cinema with escapism both on screen and given red carpet premiers etc off screen too.

JeezyOrangePips Tue 01-Jan-13 11:50:31





Pantomimedam Tue 01-Jan-13 11:57:34


Nancy66 Tue 01-Jan-13 12:00:28



happynewmind Tue 01-Jan-13 12:07:25




SinisterBuggyMonth Tue 01-Jan-13 13:07:41



carocaro Tue 01-Jan-13 13:27:54




Alibabaandthe40nappies Tue 01-Jan-13 13:33:42


Nancy66 Tue 01-Jan-13 13:36:23


YouOldTinsellySlag Tue 01-Jan-13 14:04:17




Some films should be left unmade.

Pantomimedam Tue 01-Jan-13 14:49:29


NaturalBaby Tue 01-Jan-13 15:51:18

What does it matter?!

moisturiser Tue 01-Jan-13 15:53:05



Nancy66 Tue 01-Jan-13 15:56:49


Movies are made about real-life disasters all the time.

PrincessAnastasia Tue 01-Jan-13 17:40:23

How can people say it's too soon?

When is the exact time that it wouldn't be too soon?

Next year? 2023? 2053?



Startail Tue 01-Jan-13 18:17:14

I've never seen Shindler's list or titanic.


The morbid fascination with the Titanic I find disturbing.

Lovecat Tue 01-Jan-13 18:28:28



IDontKnowWhereMyMedalsAre Wed 02-Jan-13 05:54:00



Fairylea Wed 02-Jan-13 06:33:19








I would like to see the film.

theodorakisses Wed 02-Jan-13 08:03:18


YouOldTinsellySlag Wed 02-Jan-13 10:23:23


GothAnneGeddes Wed 02-Jan-13 11:57:27




Narked Wed 02-Jan-13 12:00:28

I think the whole concept is pretty fucking vile.


theodorakisses Wed 02-Jan-13 13:23:32


FromParisWithLove Wed 02-Jan-13 13:33:55


starlady Sun 20-Jan-13 16:16:44





QOD Sun 20-Jan-13 16:24:57

I've seen it, was horribly shocking but those comments about it being all about the white family was bollocks. We actually came out and were discussing with our teens about how utterly amazing the Locals where. They had nothing and gave everything to "the whites"

My friend I went with is a teacher and we decided, that a bit like The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, it should become a "watched during school" type of film at some point as the kids cannot grasp anything really unless they see it.

Was no more gratuitous than any war movie, schindlers list etc.
yes the STORY at the centre was about a western family, but it really did show how and what affect it had on the locals.

Alisvolatpropiis Sun 20-Jan-13 17:43:34

Sinister 99% of the first class passengers on the Titanic were wealthy English people and Americans...that's historically factual.

People lived and died by the class system then in a way we wouldn't now. It's not racist at all.

HyvaPaiva Sun 20-Jan-13 17:46:19

I came on here to share the quote from Maria Belon that starlady has already provided. I also agree with Qod. It's not about nationalities - and in any case, it did affect 'blonde, white families' as well as Asian families. In the film, the family happen to be white, the chosen setting happens to be Thailand. I know locals in Sri Lanka who worked damned relentlessly to help both other locals and tourists. They certainly wouldn't care which particular nationality or family the film focused on: the focus was on how survival was possible and successful. The film does represent the sheer hard work of local communities to survive huge disaster.

amandine07 Sun 20-Jan-13 19:04:18

I'd like to add- I've seen the film and the family did not hire a private plan to get out of Thailand.

It was via their insurance company and it was a medical evacuation to Singapore as the mother needed more medical care.

I believe that the mother in real life, Maria Belon, had to have her leg amputated due to the severity of her injuries.

I'd say that people should watch the film for themselves- I didn't come away from the film thinking the family were rich/entitled/didn't help anyone else.
The teenage son (who was a very impressive actor) went round the hospital trying to help reunite other families...his mother, while seriously I'll on a makeshift hospital bed, had encouraged him to go and help others in any way he could.

starlady Sun 20-Jan-13 19:35:58

yes amandine - and I think that last scene of them getting on the plane, and the body and leaving it all behind, made a really big point - about their surivors guilt mixed in with their sheer relief at being able to do this.

I really hope that Maria Belon hasn't read any of the unpleasant, kneejerk politically motivated criticisms, or at least, taken them to heart. She sounds like an amazing woman.

This was the world's biggest recorded natural disaster. I'd forgotten about that till this film. The Titanic sinking spawned so may films, perhaps The Impossible will pave the way for a larger audience for a film from a Thai perspective.

So yes OP, I think you have been a tad Unreasonable in your dismissal of this film.

ThedementedPenguin Sun 20-Jan-13 19:50:46

I've seen it. I thought the movie was very good and it was very sad.

It is a true story so this happened to someone. It was someone's reality at that point in time.

It can be quite graphic in times but no worse than other movies I've seen.

FairPhyllis Sun 20-Jan-13 19:55:24



I think the difference is that I don't have any expectation of the Impossible (which I'm not going to see) being about anything other than the spectacle of the disaster. That feels ghoulish to me, to go to be entertained by things being flooded and smashed up, and wallowing in the sheer destruction, knowing that it was real so very recently. Same goes for Titanic. Schindler's List (which I actually haven't seen, although I know the story) seems more of a character study and about examining the moral choice Schindler and people like him were able to make. That seems like a film which at least has the potential to say something about the Holocaust and how people reacted to it morally - its not just about showing industrial scale suffering.

And FYI many Holocaust scholars are highly sceptical about the moral and social effects of the way the Holocaust is represented in film, including in Schindler's List. It's not necessarily a good example to pick, because some people do find it offensive.

stickingattwo Sun 20-Jan-13 21:56:46

YABU - you should actually watch a film before you judge it.

It's an extraordinary story because an entire family survived a direct hit from a tsunami - including 3 young kids. It isn't unnecessarily gruesome - but the mother was terribly injured, and that's shown because it make her survival all the more miraculous.
50% of the 300k+ people who died in South East Asia were "foreigners" tourists, westerners. The film shows all nationalities western and asian.

Go see the film then decide, if you still think YANBU fair enough.

stickingattwo Sun 20-Jan-13 22:05:57

Oh and all that about them being rich, hiring a private jet etc = that's all rubbish. They were a fairly ordinary middle class Spanish family living in Japan because the dad had a job there, they took a holiday in thailand. the mother was a DR who was on a career break looking after the kids. They get a medical flight to Singapore provided by their TRAVEL insurance because she was still very ill and needed more treatment. Which is kind of the point of travel insurance. The Thai hospitals were totally overwhelmed by the numbers of critically injured so I guess staying there really wasn't an option.

pawpawya Mon 21-Jan-13 09:11:25

I don't believe in the "too soon" thing as a general principle, it is for those personally connected with a tragedy to decide when it is too soon for them to watch something for entertainment that depicts or plays off of it. If it interferes with their grieving and recovery process then they can find something more appropriate for them.

I am somewhat more concerned about the racial issues, though Django Unchained has been monopolising the talk of race in cinema over these past months... if you want to watch high-quality narratives without a Eurocentric/white bias I would recommend the films of Thailand, Japan and South Korea: there is a whole range to be explored from those regions.

People get different things out of the cinema, which is fine- there is not one regimented "correct response" to it. Wrt Startail the majority of people do seem to want escapism at the cinema, which is why they make money putting on fantasy blockbusters, supernatural horrors, grand historical pieces and fluffy/gross-out comedies at your average multiplex in your average city. As for me, I associate the cinema with philosophical discourse and multicultural exploration, and so you'll find me in the smaller specialist or "repertory" cinemas. Both ends of the spectrum and some in between can all be profitable even in an age of Blu-ray, full HD and tablets- the social experience is something not replicable by home ents technology.

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