Into Eternity By Michael Madsen

Environmental issues are not just items we read in the papers or watch on the news. A “green way of thinking” is something we should all develop as soon as possible, and what better way for IDFA to salute this than by creating a special competition for documentaries about the environment, sustainability and biodiversity. The award will be given to the film that most creatively illuminates the interaction between people and their environment.

However, when you’re dealing with the permanent disposal of nuclear waste as an underground deposit which will remain hazardous for 100 000 years, it is a bit difficult to actually “illuminate” anybody regarding how to interact with the environment. Nobody actually knows anything for certain, except the fact that by making use of nuclear energy, we are automatically creating trash too dangerous to keep above ground in the unstable political and geographical climate, and that it needs thousands of years to become radioactively harmless.

Finland came up with the solution of permanently burying their leftovers in an enormous system of underground caves and tunnels, called ‘Onkalo’, which is to be built in the next hundred years, and then covered by an extremely thick concrete wall meant to keep everybody out of its reach for eternity. Aside from the difficulties of coordinating an action whose final result will outlive its initiators, the project also has to deal with ethical questions regarding how to make sure future generations understand the dangers of the materials hidden in the ground. Considering that human civilization is only a couple of thousands years old and that there are still objects and constructions from the past we have not yet deciphered completely, how does one send a message meant to be understood over 100 000 years? Which language should be used and how can we even know if future generations will be as advanced as us? Should the Onkalo construction be signalled as a place to keep away from (thus possibly attracting the curiosity of people who will not understand exactly what is hidden there) or should the whole thing be forgotten?

Michael Madsen’s film cannot answer these questions, and nor can any of the interviewed specialists. Not even we, as outside observers, can make up our minds about whether the decisions taken were right. But the questions remain in our minds, making us reflect on our actions and how they influence the environment and the future. The haunting mood established by the director through brilliant sound design leaves us restless, and should have the same effect for the potential spectators Madsen imagines might run into his work in the years to come.

By Maria Dicieanu