Analysis: The Impossible

Register to read the introduction… In the movie The Impossible, a family on a vacation from England to Thailand finds themselves trapped in the deadly Tsunami that struck the country in 2004. After the wave engulfed the country, the mother and one of her three sons are wrested from the rest of their family. While trying to find safety in the destruction, they hear a young child calling for help and, rather than continuing to retreat to a place where they could be safe, the mother says, “We have to help that little boy, even if it’s the last thing we do.” (Bayona 2012). Scenarios such as this, when a person is aware that saving someone else’s life may result in their death and still attempts to help them, are not highly common. Only those who truly believe that the life of a stranger is as important as theirs are willing to sacrifice their lives for someone they have never met. Harrold ISD superintendent David Thweatt believes that schools should allow teachers with proper certification and training to carry concealed handguns. Thweatt says that, “A failure to schools was when in 1990, schools became ‘gun-free zones.’ (Weaver 2). In this case, school are willing to defend the students of their school, who they believe are the most important members of society, as they have the potential to alter the ways that we live in the future. Sometimes, it is possible to save someone’s life by one’s words. In Wave of …show more content…
This option is to save their life rather than the life of anyone else, loved one or stranger. In Wave of Destruction, Nang was put in one of many states of crisis when a woman whom she did not know handed her baby to Nang. The woman asked Nang to take care of the baby, and then she proceeded to flee with her other child. Nang, trapped in water nearly the height of her neck, chose to let the baby drown in the water, as she had realized that the infant had no actual chance of survival (Krauss 112). In this case, Nang chose her own survival over the survival of the baby because she knew that both of them would be unable to survive. It is common for people who are frightened of a crisis to choose to save their lives rather than the lives of others. In The Impossible, many of the people portrayed were foreigners visiting Thailand. Because they were unprepared for a massive disaster, many of them believed that if they attempted to help others, it would cost them their lives, so they simply ignored any people in need of assistance (Bayona 2012). Unfortunately, choosing to save one’s own life rather than the life of someone else often results in the unassisted person being