When I was in junior high...long long ago, a very old woman came to our class and told about the 1900 storm. She was just a little girl then, very young and she said the storm literally swept her and her family out to sea. She was rescued from a pile of debris that she was floating on. He mother's body was part of the debris pile.
It was horrible.
Yeah, that's about what the book is like, only on a MUCH larger scale. Certainly, such a tragedy deserves a respectable film treatment, and having seen Mr. Astin's short film a minute ago, I feel confident in his abilities. It was wonderful!
I liked the Peter Jackson cameo, too.