Quote:
| "Wasn't it also decided that people have the right to fight for their lives?" |
Spoken in another disaster film, when rogue waves once again imperiled the globe, the words of Chiwetel Ejiofor really resonated with me when I watched T:TA. If anything, that spirit of survival, that refusal to give up, is embodied to much greater effect in this television miniseries than in Emmerichs similarly themed mega budget disaster flick
The film is a BBC/HBO co production, and the acting is absolutely harrowing. Elijapor is at the top of his game, and his very grounded and believable performance puts us right into the psychology of what it must be like to not only experience a disaster.. but to survive, and be left to pick up the pieces of your shattered life. Unlike in 2012 where he views the end of the world from a chilly remove in the white house situation room, here is in the midst of things and has to fight to reunite his family. It kind of makes you wish he had been the star of 2012 instead of Cusack*
I'm done with the first half of it and if I have any complaints so far it's that the focus seems to be embarrassingly western centric. There is a Thai character who we follow a bit, and see how the wave wiped out his village. But for the most part the focus of the tale is on people who had their vacations wrecked. At one point, a white person tearfully says "This is where people come to get away from their problems, and now this..."
Uh?
People live their lives in Thailand on a non vacational basis. Most of the victims of the Tsunami attack were asians, not posh tourists! Combined with the Tim Roth storyline (where he runs around shouting about how they're burning the bodies of westerners and how it's disrespectful --hey news flash, it's the tropics and bodies spread disease-- ), the whole thing seems a tad tone deaf in some ways. There are efforts made to show things from inside the British embassy, with a bumbling 'Brownie' type character more interested in press conferences than search parties, but it falls flat
Oh well
Anyway, it's gripping television and I think a sober and serious examination of the risks posed by earth quakes. Films like 2012 may have the spectacle, but TSUNAMI THE AFTERMATH has the heart to make you care. I think everyone living along a coast should check it out. The part where Ejiofor's daughter notices the ocean disappearing and her dad's only reaction is to shrug just kills me... Some *basic* disaster preparedness education could have saved these people! I learned about the whole ocean disappearing before a big wave thing in fifth grade for crying out loud
I will return with my thoughts on part two later on
*who gave a boring performance that was totally phoned in
a tantalizing link for an overseas version.
Anyway, yes Cranham is aces as Pompey. It's a remarkably layered and "real" performance and it's a shame that it only lasts six episodes (although his final moments in Alexandria are so well shot and the music is so great that you almost don't care*)
