The Third Wave

20072007
Not RatedNot Rated
1h 34m

7.8/10

Documentary Adventure Drama

Four volunteers travel to Peraliya, Sri Lankan after the 2004 tsunami, and their planned two-week journey becomes a year of heartbreak and rebirth.Four volunteers travel to Peraliya, Sri Lankan after the 2004 tsunami, and their planned two-week journey becomes a year of heartbreak and rebirth.Four volunteers travel to Peraliya, Sri Lankan after the 2004 tsunami, and their planned two-week journey becomes a year of heartbreak and rebirth.

7.8/10

268

Director
- Alison Thompson
Writer
- Richard Belfiore(additional writing)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination

Videos2

"New friends" Volunteer Bruce with the village chief.

Volunteer Alison gives the village elders new identity cards.

The Volunteers created the First and still the only Tsunami Early-warning Center in Sri Lanka.

Donny and Alison operate on Tsunami victims in their makeshift hospital.

Oscar Gubernati with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Trade Minister Jerarj Fernandoupulle.

Bruce French- Volunteer from Telluride, Colorado. The instruments were donated by Canadian band 'RUSH'

Donny Paterson -Body collecting takes its toll on everyone.

A volunteer film. Four independent volunteers with little money and no experience race off to volunteer in tsunami ravaged Sri Lanka . They meet up at the Colombo airport by fate, rent a van, fill it with supplies and start driving down the coast to see where they can help. They stumble into Peraliya, a tribal village which has been totally destroyed by a 40 foot wave overturning a train and killing over 2500 people. No-one is there helping so they set up a first aid station and find themselves in charge of a refugee camp with over 3000 people. A two week journey turns into a year long odyssey of heartbreak and hope as the villagers slowly begin to turn against them when the worlds donated tsunami money doesn't materialize. The volunteers push on through the death threats and break every rule in the 'Disaster Aid Books'. Everyone is needed : no skills required. —Anonymous

volunteer tsunami overwork cross cultural friendship cross cultural relations 11 more

Taglines
- In a world of growing disasters and wars ... everyone is needed.
Genres
Certificate
- Not Rated
Parents guide
- Add content advisory

Trivia
After the 2010 Haiti earthquake disaster, director Alison Thompson flew to Haiti with Sean Penn and Oscar Gubernati and ran a field hospital and refugee camp of over 70,000 people for 6 months.

Quotes
Donny: I walk around at home and nobody gives a f... , I come here and everybody cares its quite humbling really.

Top review

10/10

This film had 5 sold out shows at Tribeca FF it was hard to buy a ticket!

I read about this film in the New York Times Tribeca pull out and tried to get tickets but every show was sold out. I finally got three to the last screening and was very happy I made the effort. The film had a deep impact on my two other friends and we talked about it for 3 hours over dinner that night and then later for a few more hours!! It stays in your head. The message really got to us and made us think about helping more in the future. We are so stuck in our busy lives idolizing actors and sportsmen as our heroes and they aren't really real heroes. The real ones are in docs like this. After the screening the filmmakers talked in a humble way of spreading the volunteer message to the world and how everyone was needed to help including bankers, lawyers and actors and singers and musicians and every type of job. Kudos to Morgan Spurlock for finding this gem, he was already a hero of mine for helping me lose 55 pounds due to eating junk food!

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