Sunday Times 2
Survivors of 2004 tsunami ‘ambushed’
View(s):Trailer for movie about Boxing Day tragedy screened without warning at cinemas
Survivors of the 2004 tsunami have been left ‘in tears’ as cinemas are screening the trailer for a movie about the disaster without warning.
Haunting: Tsunami Survivors UK said the graphic the trailer brought back terrible memories
The trailer for the film uses graphic imagery to re-tell the story of one family’s fight for survival after the 98-foot-tidal wave hit Thailand on Boxing Day eight years ago.
The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean killed 230,000 people, including 155 British citizens.
The promotional video for The Impossible, starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, is being screened without any prior notice before fantasy fiction movie The Hobbit.
Now a tsunami survivors’ group said they are aware of survivors and grieving relatives who have been ‘caught out’ by the trailer.
One incident saw a man who flew to Thailand to identify his sister-in-law following the 2004 tragedy being ‘ambushed’ by the trailer during a screening of The Hobbit at the Odeon in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
He said: ‘On Boxing Day 2004 I got the worst telephone call of my life from my brother in Thailand telling me his wife had been killed when they were overwhelmed by the wave.
‘I flew out immediately to bring him home and help trace his wife. Only those who were there can understand the trauma of it all. ‘This time of year is terrible for my brother, his wife’s family and me because it brings back the memories like it was yesterday.’
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, added that his brother had been invited along to watch The Hobbit but had thankfully declined.
‘There were scenes of people drowning and bodies floating about and it brought it all back so hard.
‘I could not believe a cinema chain could be so ignorant and crass as to show such a trailer without any prior warning.
‘This was nothing more than an ambush in surround sound and 3D on a giant screen in front of me.
‘I was furious and close to tears. It could not have been any more distressing.’
© Daily Mail, London
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