Based on a true story, The Mine follows young civil servant Jussi, charged with overseeing the environmental permit for Talvivaara, a company wanting to open a large nickel mine that would bring jobs to one of the poorest parts of Scandanavia.
It slowly becomes clear that not all is well. The company is lying about the environmental assessments, lying about the level of potential pollutants in the waste water that would be produced by the mine and denying that there are sizeable uranium deposits in the area.
The action takes place largely in comfortable offices, where civil servants and business men make deals behind closed doors, turning a collective blind eye to the damage they could potentially do to the environment if things go wrong and ignoring EU regulations designed to protect the environment.
Jussi needs to decide whether he will also turn a blind eye or whether he will become whistle-blower.
Then in 2012, a tailings pond at the mine burst, resulting in a leakage of 1.4
million cubic meters of toxic water which poisoned the surrounding countryside.
The storytelling is admirable restrained and the tone and content are all too depressingly believable.
Based on a true story, The Mine is a tense drama shining a light into the dark corners of local government corruption.
The Mine is showing at Edinburgh International Film Festival:
1815, 19 June at Odeon and 1555, 21 June at Filmhouse.
You can read my other reviews from this year's film festival by following the links below:
The Islands and the Whales - culture and marine sustainability in the Faroes.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
Bugs - are insects the food of the future?
Disclaimer: I have a press pass for the Edinburgh International Film Festival and attended a free press screening of this film.
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