Sophie Okonedo (left) and Toni Collette star in 'Tsunami, the Aftermath', premiering tomorrow night, at 8, on HBO. Dont miss Part II, next Sunday.

It was just two years ago that the world was shocked by a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that claimed more than 160,000 lives in a matter of minutes.

While the memory of this disaster still remains fresh in the countries affected, the rest of the world has moved on. HBO Films, in association with BBC Two, intends to change that by revisiting the disaster in Tsunami, the Aftermath, airing in two parts on consecutive Sundays, tomorrow and December 17, on HBO.

Tsunami is a heart-wrenching, character-driven film void of the big-budget effects found in typical natural disaster films. It's a story of loss, survival and hope that ultimately explores the universal questions about how government, media, relief workers and survivors respond to such unimaginable devastation. The film was inspired by true accounts, with writer/executive producer Abi Morgan (Sex Traffic) combining her extensive research and interviews to weave together a three-hour drama.

Straight re-enactment

"I've tried to write something that captures the experience but also asks questions that you might not be able to ask if you did a straight re-enactment," Morgan says. "The film examines not only the aftermath of a devastating experience, but the relationship between the West and Thailand, in particular its people, united by both the practical and emotional fallout of this disaster. It explores a number of issues within the context of the characters' journeys."

The film follows a group of fictional characters in a multistrand story format. Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense) plays an Australian woman who runs an educational programme for Thai children. Others in the cast include Tim Roth (Rob Roy), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Inside Man), Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda), Hugh Bonneville (Notting Hill) and newcomer Samrit Machielsen.

"It's obviously such a harrowing, sobering story - if you would call it a story, since it did happen - but my character is very practical and accepting and strong, and there's only one crack in her veneer: when she starts to question her faith," Collette says.

The film was shot in Phuket and Khao Lak, Thailand, which lost more than 5,000 people to the tsunami.

- Barb Oates, Zap2it

See the premiere tomorrow, at 8:00 p.m., on HBO.