27 February 2016

Vajont – La diga del disonore: the landslide scene

Posted by Dave Petley

Vajont – La diga del disonore

Vajont – La diga del disonore is a 2001 movie by the Italian director Renzo Martinelli that dramatises the events of the 1963 Vajont disaster.   It has not been widely shown outside of Italy.  There is a good Wikipedia page in Italian about this movie.  The film tells the story of the tragedy, which killed over 2000 people, from both the perspective of the people of the towns that were swept away by the flood generated by the landslide, and those who were responsible for building and commissioning the dam that triggered the landslide.

In the last week someone has posted to Youtube the 5 minute section of the film in which the landslide occurs.  It is both dramatic and terrifying, capturing not only the failure of the landslide but also the impact on the people who were killed.  It is not easy view, but it is deeply moving.  You should be able to view it below:

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There are many videos of landslides occurring in real time now, but few that capture the ways in which they affect people.  The power of this movie lies in the way that it covers this issue, without being gruesome or gratuitous.

Vajont - La diga del disonore

Still from Vajont – La diga del disonore