In this still from Koneline: Our Land Beautiful, a diamond driller and sunrise are pictured over Northwest BC.
This subtle, beautiful and remarkably even-handed documentary examines what it means to live near the Red Chris gold and copper mine among the sweeping landscapes of northwestern British Columbia. Filmmaker Nettie Wild skillfully juxtaposes a soundtrack of gentle ruminations about nature, culture and economics spoken by local band members, white hunters and mine workers with a meditative film of ceaseless activity: Geologists consider core samples, line workers pull electrical cables, elders blockade a road, locals rescue stranded salmon, hunters shoot a moose. All these people have a stake in the land, and the mine poses the painful dilemma of economics versus environmentalism.
Kate Taylor