Earth

Both an awe-inspiring testament to men’s ability to build and develop, and an alarming picture of how we deplete the earth for our pleasure, comfort and profits. How much digging, mining and ploughing can the earth stand? Visually stunning and thought-provoking.

‘We move mountains for a living,’ says the foreman of a US crew flattening a piece of land with bulldozers. ‘There are no limits.’ Every year, the people of planet Earth move several billion tons of rock and soil. That’s the Anthropocene for you: mankind is transforming the planet much more than any species before us.

In seven chapters, each focusing on a project in a different part of the US and Europe, Earth examines men’s impact on the planet. Slow, wide shots of breathtaking landscapes and machines are interspersed with interviews with the men and women (mostly men) who fulfil these gigantic jobs. Off camera, director Nikolaus Geyrhalter friendly but sharply questions them about the nature of what they’re doing. Do we really want a man-made earth?