Wasteland - the hill and the pit
The first part of WASTELAND is called THE HILL and shows the Borinage in the Walloon part of Belgium. Today, the former mining district is troubled by massive unemployment and poverty. The mines are deserted, the shafts are closed. A man, whose father used to work in the mines, dreams of converting an old mine into a children's farm. Meanwhile, a small mining community of Ukrainian immigrants is quietly passing their days here. In the second part The Pit, we see how in Hambach, Germany, coal is still extracted. But this excavated brown coal mine also looks like wasteland.: all by himself, an engine driver with a poetic streak operates an awe-in-spring excavator in an otherwise almost desolate landscape. The directors use an observing style and matching tempo to juxtapose the two worlds.