The Impossible recreates the 2004 tsunami in this heart-wrenching new trailer

When I watched this trailer for J.A. Bayona’s THE IMPOSSIBLE, I could not help feeling dread in the bottom of my stomach. During the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, my wife lost contact with her best friend and family. They turned out to be okay, but those days of waiting for contact were excrutiating. The only thing I can imagine being worse would be actually losing someone in a tragedy of that magnitude.

Bayona’s previous film, the brilliant THE ORPHANAGE, is tonally opposite of this movie, but you can still see the same visual scope on the screen. Featuring Ewan MacGregor and Naomi Watts, THE IMPOSSIBLE looks to be a good contender for awards season.

Plot: A powerful story based on one family’s survival of the 2004 tsunami, THE IMPOSSIBLE stars Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor and is directed by J.A. Bayona (THE ORPHANAGE). Maria (Naomi Watts), Henry (Ewan McGregor) and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her.

Based on a true story, THE IMPOSSIBLE is the unforgettable account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time. But the true-life terror is tempered by the unexpected displays of compassion, courage and simple kindness that Maria and her family encounter during the darkest hours of their lives. Both epic and intimate, devastating and uplifting, THE IMPOSSIBLE is a journey to the core of the human heart.

Ewan MacGregor is one of my favorite actors and I will watch anything he acts in. This will definitely be on my radar when it hits theaters on December 21. 2012.