A breathtaking helicopter landing drops us smack in the middle of an isolated community of miners in snowy Barentsburg. Recently coal mining became less profitable, but the geopolitical importance of Russian presence in the Arctic archipelago cannot be underestimated. So the miners keep steering their mine carts back and forth with a stubborn determination. A dark perspective on a society which seems to have reached a terminal industrial stage, heading towards total exhaustion.
A breathtaking helicopter landing drops us smack in the middle of an isolated community of miners in snowy Barentsburg. Recently coal mining became less profitable, but the geopolitical importance of Russian presence in the Arctic archipelago cannot be underestimated. So the miners keep steering their mine carts back and forth with a stubborn determination. A dark perspective on a society which seems to have reached a terminal industrial stage, heading towards total exhaustion.
Wim Catrysse
Escautville ,
