Published 16:36 IST, November 11th 2020
Is 'The Impossible' a true story? Know all about the story behind this Naomi Watts starrer
The 2012 movie 'The Impossible' is now available on Netflix. Read on to know whether 'The Impossible' is a true story and other details about the film.
The 2012 movie The Impossible is now available on Netflix. The film is based on the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and tsunami, which had led to landfall and affected several countries. The disaster took place in 2004 on the 26th of December, and the Álvarez - Belon family is known to be one of the survivors of the disastrous incident. The Impossible has captured their story. Read on to know more details about the film:
Is The Impossible a true story?
The Impossible is a 2012 movie that has documented the story of the Alvarez – Belon family, who are survivors from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The family was in Thailand for their Christmas holidays when the tsunami struck. The movie presents the events that followed after the disaster and the family’s story.
The tsunami took place due to an underground earthquake in the Indian Ocean, one of the ocean plates has slipped below another. The two tectonic plates that moved, in this case, were the Indian and Australian tectonic plates, which comprised of a 900-mile fault line. The earthquake was a 9.1 magnitude earthquake, which is one of the largest recorded ever and triggered a tsunami that led to the ocean floor rise by 40 meters, suddenly.
The tsunami ended eight hours later but had already taken the lives of over 200,000 people, making it the deadliest tsunami in history ever. The Impossible has documented in detail, the very moment when it hit Thailand and caused a landfall. Thailand was the second location after Sumatra to be hit by the disaster. In Sumatra, it took over 100,000 lives within moments.
The Boxing Day tsunami reached Thailand almost an hour after Sumatra and the waves were still travelling at 500 mph. Almost 5,400 people’s lives were lost that day including that of 2,000 foreign tourists. Among the survivors are Maria Belon, Enrique Alvarez, and their 3 children Lucas, Simon, and Tomas, whose real-life story is depicted in the movie. The lead cast of the movie includes Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, and Tom Holland.
Updated 16:36 IST, November 11th 2020