Kohleland – Coal country

Kohleland – Coal country (2006 / ZDF-ARTE / 60 Min)

Civil disobedience in Lusatia: a retired couple is resisting the destruction of their house. For their village has to give way to brown coal surface mining. They are holding out until the end – they will stay till the last. Bit by bit everyone else has yielded to the over-powerful energy concern and has left. The shovels of the monstrous diggers are approaching closer and closer to their house. Documentary filmmakers Jens Arndt andH.-J. Büsch accompanied the couple for one year during their attempt to ‘make a stand’. They care for to the ‘soil’ they grew up on, until the bitter end. They cultivate the apple trees as if life was a long calm stream. But the digger keeps on digging...