TSUNAMI: THE AFTERMATH

UK, 2007, 200 minutes, Colour.
Tim Roth, Chiwitel Ejiofor, Sophie Okenedo, Hugh Bonneville, Gina Mc Kee, Toni Collette, Samrit Michielsen, Kate Ashfield, Aure Atika, George Mackay, Jacek Koman.
Directed by Baharat Nalluri.

Tsunami: the Aftermath, was released as a television miniseries only a couple of years after the actual events of Boxing Day, 2004. It does recreate something of the huge tidal wave, its breaking over the shore and destroying resorts, fishing villages, the jungle. (A more vivid picture of a tidal wave can be seen in Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter.)

As the title suggests, it is the shock, the destruction, the loss of lives, injuries that are discovered in the aftermath. The number of deaths in Thailand, which is the focus of the drama here, was very high, locals and tourists. For the Thais, the focus is on a young worker at the resort, his village destroyed and his grandmother and the rest of his family overcome by the wave. With the Western tourists, there is a couple from England, played by Chiwitel Ejiofor and Sophie Okenedo, with their little daughter, who is lost in the impact, her father losing his grip on her, her clinging to a tree but disappearing. There is another English family, parents with two sons, the wife and son surviving, the husband dying, and the older son needing medical evacuation or an amputation. The mother is played by Gina McKee? and the younger son by George Mackay who is to have a substantial career as he grew up.

Hugh Bonneville portrays the British consul in Bangkok who has to go to Phuket to organise some relief and deal with the British in distress. Leon Ford is his assistant. Toni Collette plays a volunteer who has worked with children, many of whom were lost, and who takes up the causes of the locals.

Tim Roth is a journalist, working with a Thai cameraman, who goes to Phuket, takes a lot of pictures, often intrusively, is concerned about Buddhist monks burning bodies without identification for hygiene’s sake, and become something of a champion against the developers who moved into the shore to level the resorts and villages for further development. He tracks down a former adviser to the government who warned about the possibilities of tsunamis.

The film has many harrowing moments, especially grief, the search for survivors, the impact of news of deaths.

While this story is focused on 2004, seen in subsequent years, it still has a humane impact.

1. The impact of the Boxing Day, 2004, tsunami at the time? Bewilderment? The aftermath? Asia, Western tourists?

2. The story of a disaster, shock impact, deaths and injuries? Abilities to cope/or not? The tsunami in Thailand? In other Asian countries? The earthquake, the tidal wave? Thai population, British and foreign tourists, the NGOs, the volunteers, the medical staffs? The audience sharing the experience?

3. The location photography, the ocean, the resorts, the native villages, in the hills, the countryside, the jungle, the cities, the hotels, relief headquarters, makeshift? Coping, resources/or not?

4. The opening, the ocean, the boat and the tourists, the bodies floating in the water, the puzzle, the return to shore, witnessing the destruction? The focus on the two wives, the missing husbands, children?

5. Establishing the characters and focus, Ian and Susan, Martha? The UK, the holiday, at the hotel, registering first, eager, the diving, Ian remaining with Martha? The Peabody’s, white presumptions and registration? The family, the boys, the bickering, the diving, the husband remaining? Than and his work? The range of staff, reception, the dining, the entertainment, resort life? The atmosphere of Christmas?

6. The sense of loss, the anguish of the searching? Possibilities for information, identifying bodies, reunions?

7. The aftermath of the disaster, Ian and his being trapped, his having to let go of Martha, her clinging to the tree? Than and his rescuing him, their search together, Than finding his grandmother?

8. The personal aftermath, Ian and his desperate search for Martha? Than, the beach, they getting on the truck, the rescuing of Mr Peabody? Further information, in the town, the centres? Information and photos? Finding Susan?

9. Kim Peabody with Adam, John and his injured leg? Her husband’s death and the grief? Wanting the evacuation of John? The appeals to Tony Whitaker? The time, the document for John’s amputation, Adam’s reaction, the signing?

10. Nick and his associate, journalists, covering the East, flying to Phuket? The tour of the devastation, the range of photos, intrusion, the phone calls? Nick meeting with Ellen? Discussions with her, her background in business, her loyalty to her company, blocking her sensitivity, at the meeting, press conference and questions? His changing his attitude, his reaction to the monks burning the corpses without identification? His attitude towards the instant development, his protest? At the hotels, working with his associate, clashes with him? Phoning through the articles and Simone editing them?

11. Tony Whitaker, the British consul, his job, facing the situation? The encounter with Katherine? Her driving him and his associate to Phuket? The setup, the challenge, his personal interventions? The encounters with Kim, Ian? His meeting with the survivors and their attack on him? In the chapel for reflection? The discussions with Katherine? Too late in getting the transport for John?

12. Katherine, the volunteer, her association with the children, so many of them missing? Her life’s work in Thailand? Driving Than to the beach? The discussions with Nick? The encounters with Kim, Ian? Facing up to the instant development in the clearing of the beach?

13. Ian and Susan, the mutual tensions, Susan seeing the baby, taking it, playing with it, possible fostering? Her facing the truth and giving it up? Seeing the actual mother? The sympathetic dental surgeon? The decision to stay because Martha had not been found?

14. The range of help, Thai citizens, the medics and nurses, supplies? The westerners stranded without money or documents?

15. The professor, the past attitude of the government, his thesis, being removed? Nick encountering him, getting the copy of the thesis? His new appointment?

16. The development and expansion, the bulldozers arriving instantly, the confrontations, the villages losing their towns? Than, his return, his dead grandmother, her bracelets, getting the milk, his being arrested, imprisoned?

17. The aftermath of the aftermath, Thailand returning to normal? Yet the memories and the losses suffered? And early warning systems being in place?