Vajont

October the 9th 1963, 10.39 pm. 260 million cubic meters of rock come off Mount Toc, behind the Vajont dam and fall into the artificial lake. A 250 m wave rises above the dam. 50 cubic meters of water spring up towards the sky like a gigantic liquid mushroom and then plunge back in the valley sweeping away the villages below. More than 2000 people die. 

“Do you know why this mountain is called Toc? Because in our dialect ‘toc’ means rotten, brittle”. It was common knowledge in Vajont that that mountain could not be trusted, Tina Merlin was forever mentioning that in her articles in the “Unità” newspaper. But those who had built the highest dam in the world did not want to listen to those sinister sounds and signals forecasting a catastrophe, and maybe they could not either. Vajont is the story of men not listening to nature, a film that puts together social commitment and entertainment, using special effects never employed in an Italian film before. Two hours of real suspense that makes the audience live again the catastrophe which disrupted Italy in the early 60s.