#the wave

Release: May 27, 2026

Lyrics:

Oh, I thought about it yesterday

Couldn't bare to live without your love

And I never wanna hear you say

That you're giving up

Don't you say it's over

When it all falls apart

You know it gets easier

If we just hold on

Oh, don't you cry

We got it all

Don't you worry

We can find our way through the dark

We got it all

Don't you worry

We can take it back to the start

There were nights we both lost our way

There were words we never meant to say

But I know deep down in my heart

We ain't giving up

Don't you say it's over

When it all falls apart

You know it gets easier

If we just hold on

Oh, don't you cry

We got it all

Don't you worry

We can find our way through the dark

We got it all

Don't you worry

We can take it back to the start

Soon your days will be done

Living on a wave of what we become

Songwriter:

Oh, don't you cry

We got it all

Don't you worry

We can find our way through the dark

We got it all

Don't you worry

We can take it back to the start

Lydia Kitto / Joshua Lloyd-Watson

BandFacts:

👉📖

Homepage:

Q1: more details about the real-life geological history that inspired this film

The film The Wave is terrifyingly accurate because it is based on a real, ongoing geological hazard in Western Norway. Unlike traditional oceanic tsunamis caused by underwater earthquakes, Norwegian tsunamis are rockslide-triggered megatsunamis occurring inside extremely narrow, deep fjords. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The Immediate Threat: The Åkerneset Fracture The direct real-life inspiration for the film's location is Åkerneset (Mount Åkernes), a mountain overlooking the Storfjorden, located just north of the famous tourist haven of Geirangerfjord. [1, 2]

The Crack: There is a real-life massive crevice stretching across the mountainside. The Åkernes fracture is roughly 230 feet deep and is currently widening by about 2 to 15 centimeters (up to 3.5 inches) every single year. [1, 2]

The Worst-Case Scenario: Geologists expect that a massive block of the mountain—estimated between 40 to 50 million cubic meters of rock—will eventually collapse into the water all at once.

The Resulting Wave: If the maximum volume collapses instantly, computer models predict it will displace the water to generate a local megatsunami up to 80 meters (over 260 feet) high. Because the fjords are so narrow, the energy of the water cannot dissipate, forcing the wave to surge rapidly down the channel directly toward the low-lying tourist towns of Geiranger and Hellesylt.

Historical Precedents: The Disasters that Already Happened The filmmakers heavily relied on historical records from similar twentieth-century disasters in the region to make the film as realistic as possible. [1]

The 1934 Tafjord Disaster: On April 7, 1934, a 3-million-cubic-meter block of rock crumbled off the Langhammaren mountain from a height of 700 meters. It plummeted into the Tafjorden, creating a local tsunami that hit heights of 62 meters (203 feet) near the slide site. It swept up to 300 meters inland, flattening buildings, destroying infrastructure, and claiming 40 lives.

The Loen Disasters (1905 and 1936): A nearby lake called Lovatnet suffered two separate, devastating rockslide tsunamis. In 1905, a rockfall triggered a 40-meter wave that killed 61 people. Exactly 31 years later, in 1936, a larger 1-million-cubic-meter rockfall struck the same lake, generating a 74-meter (242-foot) megatsunami that took another 74 lives. [1]

Real-Life Monitoring and Emergency Response In reality, the local populations are well-prepared, and scientists are doing everything they can to prevent the exact surprise scenario shown in the movie. [1, 2]

Because it is a matter of "when, not if," the Åkerneset cliffside is one of the most heavily monitored rock walls on Earth. It is laced with an array of high-tech sensors including continuous GPS trackers, ground-penetrating radar, lasers, and seismic monitors. [1, 2, 3] Unlike the sudden sensor failure depicted in the movie, geologists anticipate that a large rockslide will accelerate gradually over days or weeks before a catastrophic break. This early warning system is designed to give local residents and tourists between 24 hours to several days of advance notice to safely evacuate high-risk zones, supplemented by local tsunami sirens that give a final 10-minute warning if the cliff drops suddenly. [1, 2, 3] If you would like to see how real-life hazard maps compare to movie's destruction, let me know! Alternatively, I can share information regarding the advanced drainage systems scientists are using to try and artificially slow down the mountain's movement. [1]

Real-life hazard mapping of Geirangerfjord tightly mirrors the catastrophic destruction depicted in The Wave.

Norway's official monitoring bodies—primarily the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) and specialized geological institutes—have run hyper-realistic computer models to map the exact threat posed by a rockslide at the Åkerneset mountain cliff. [1, 2] The official data reveals that the movie's terrifying timeline and wave heights are fundamentally accurate:

Where the Real Hazard Maps Differ from Hollywood While the destructive heights are completely realistic, the way the disaster unfolds in real life is expected to look different from the film in two major areas:

Directed by Roar Uthaug, this gripping 2015 Norwegian disaster film is based on real-life geological threats in the Geiranger Fjord.

The Premise: The mountain pass of Åkneset collapses, sending an 80-meter-tall (260 ft) tsunami hurtling toward the scenic village of Geiranger The Wave (2015 film). The residents and tourists are given a mere 10 minutes to evacuate to higher ground after the alarm sounds Bølgen (The Wave) - Official Trailer. [1]

The Story: It follows a geologist, Christian, who notices erratic movements in the mountain & races against time to save his family before the wave strikes Bølgen.

The Architecture (Bølgen in Vejle) In Denmark, Bølgen is a landmark residential complex designed by the world-renowned Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects Bølgen | One of Vejle's landmarks | VisitVejle.

The Design: Finished in 2018, the structure features five distinctive wave-shaped, nine-story towers right on the waterfront, taking aesthetic inspiration from the rolling hills and the waters of the Vejle Fjord Bølgen | One of Vejle's landmarks | VisitVejle - VisitDenmark.