The White Sky (1998)

• 63%
• 1998
• Documentary
• Virpi Suutari
• Susanna Helke

A glance across the border in northern Russia, where the small town of Montegorsk suffers under the heavy metal from industry. Nature is transformed into a poisonous desert: in long shots the camera probes the pale, skeleton-like branches of the dead trees. The small family, whose everyday life Helke and Suutari follow, lives in a state of waiting: waiting for the next German car, the next medical examination, the next holidays. White Sky exemplifies the artists' approach with currents of time flowing together: no one can say how long it will take for nature to regenerate itself here; yet people live here in their own time, with their own individual wishes and expectations.