Would You Live in This Toxic, Closed-Off City?
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- Опубліковано 7 лис 2017
- Norilsk, Russia. Population 177,000. It's the northernmost city in the world - and the most toxic. Filmmaker Victoria Fiore spent two years trying to gain access to this closed-off city. After a dozen failed attempts at a visa, she was finally allowed to enter.
This film is part of The Atlantic Selects, a showcase of short documentaries from independent creators, curated by The Atlantic.
Subscribe to The Atlantic on UA-cam: bit.ly/subAtlan... - Фільми й анімація
The Atlantic's first feature documentary, "White Noise," is the definitive inside story of the alt-right. Watch now on Apple TV: apple.co/2FcsC7W?mt=6&at=11lxRE
what does that have to do with the people of Norilsk??? I should probably watch before I ask, but I refuse to own Apple products.
@@patdonnelly9392 snow is white i guess? not the first time these outlets are reeeeaaaching...
@@Ravakeksis very true!
@@patdonnelly9392 I think they probably posted that on all their more popular videos in order to promote their documentary.
@@magisterrleth3129 true....that's the way they work. I was so fascinated by this video, tho!
The best thing about human beings is that they can get used to anything. The worst thing about human beings is that they can get used to anything.
And even start liking it eventually...
If you came up with that, you sir, surprised me with your cleverness
Double edged sword eh
Welfare state
what a profoundly stupid observation. yes thats called adaptation
This place is as the man says eternal and cosmic, peaceful but also very dark. There is something so bizarre about it. Almost as if they are a colony on another planet and the massive brutalistic structures represent their impact and society. I think it would be approprite for artist or writers to come here and understand the human condition better . No better place. A mix of Antartica and Chenoybl. But the serentiy is also eerie.
It reminded me of all those dark survival Anime I've watched dealing with these dark moments. Something attacks humans, or humans done something to the point they have to hide underground, or in cities, to do what we see here. It's beautiful, if grim... Spooky, yet beautiful. It's strange....... It's indeed like living on another planet.....
Another thing I could compare it to would be the Gundam universe of people living in third world styled mining colonies. Yes, it's anime, but anime also used these settings to their advantage to tell a story. It's nuts seeing it in this format... Mind blown.
Well said.
@@patchworkgirl2982 i approves this also o7
It looks like the poor man's Midgar
Its a beautiful setpiece for a story or a movie. Granted it has a good writer
I have an huge interest in these dark russian cities, I don't know why
The footage of Petropovlovsk as it appears in Michael Palin's *Full Circle* is some of the most darkly beautiful Russian cityscape I've ever seen -- though I'm sure you're already familiar.
Same for me 😂
me too yep
Me too
Oddly calming to me.
A factory town, where the factory owns the town and the people owe their existence to the factory. Something like Dante's vision of hell.
Like a corporate town from the outer world's kind of
Soo, like Luleå, Sandviken, Kiruna or Boliden in Sweden?
@@DanielleMoren Like Kohler Wisconsin. Cannon Alabama, etc
Nah just socialism
How else are they going to get the raw resources to make the iphone that you’re watching this on?
There is some really beautiful cinematography in here.
The scene where the Doctor states what he clearly understands as bullshit and the cut to a little picture of putin on his desk was brilliant.
Do not be fooled, the video images have been selected to distort the reality and make a propaganda video, I have been in Norilsk for 2 years and I can surely tell you that this is propaganda, a video with selected images to give a distorted narrative , it's as if I went to new york and started to record the bronx, or went to Detroit and went to UA-cam only the ugliest neighborhoods and streets, or as if it was the UK and I started to record Aylesbury Estate, It is obvious that this is a propaganda video if you want to know how it is norilsk I would recommend that you go to see how it really is
Unfortunately, in all parts of the world, journalism is distorted, so sensationalist news has more publicity, in this video I can say with certainty that the images have been selected to shape a distorted reality These are 2 excellent videos of a spanish journalist, this is really norilsk in winter and summer ua-cam.com/video/1czvg5yqBH8/v-deo.html ................... ua-cam.com/video/8OB1E4nCSbs/v-deo.html (cc)
Indeed
Anelka Zeivh, I know, Norilsk is *_NOT_* beautiful.................. NOTHING about pollution is beautiful.
I did not get fooled..............
I have seen other images of Norilsk too............. Yeah................. Not really beautiful............
AirWaterLandBuffalo
if you are a fan of this sort of cinematography, I strongly recomend to search Internet for old Russian movie "Дети чугунных богов" (Children of the Iron Gods) 1993, you will love it (even if you don't understand a single word in Russian )
Despite the subject matter of the video, and the setting, this video is absolutely gorgeous. The cinematography is stunning.
Noone replied in 4 years? 😂😂😭
@@MGVK2277 I guess not lol
Really is so well done, grim but beterful at same time.
Subject here is a city where people are born and die... sure it's polluted, cold desert, eerie landscape and it shocks at first : it's extreme ( and in a way beautiful)
But, there are even more crazy places in Russia: watch the documentary "something better to come" for instance : people living in a city size dump. I must warn you : it's not a easy thing to see
0:52 is like out of this world, amazing
Me: This place looks horrible.
*Adds to travel list*
Morbid curiosity gets the best of all of us lol
It's closed off, only Russians can enter
Yup, Norilsk, Pripyat, Aral Sea, North Korea and a few other places which will ensure my infertility :)
Fukushima is probably safe tho but I still wanna go there.
Haha me too🤣 but it seems that only Russians can go there
we'd be friends
I am from Norilsk and it is better to die than live here. Very depressed city.
Hope you're okay there and have the opportunity to emigrate out of Norilsk 😢 I would feel the same too if I were you 😔
Really try to get out of that place man.
@@jaredviret1518 Her name is Polina.
You should move to Detroit. Such a lovely city, not awful by all measurements at all.
@@seanquinn4540 brooooo😂😂😂
I like the fact that this has no music, just the sounds of the environment and people speaking. Really gives the whole documentary an eerie vibe even though it's just a normal documentation.
it feels so tranquil yet so unnerving, the contrast of the beautiful tundra around this toxic wasteland creates a strange feeling of wonder and the feeling of being locked away from the world. I love this feeling.
Musical docs are extremely annoying
Mullet guy: “Sulfur dioxide isn’t harmful to humans”
Sulfur Dioxide: VERY TOXIC, can cause death. Can cause severe irritation of the nose and throat. At high concentrations: can cause life-threatening accumulation of fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema). Symptoms may include coughing, shortness of breath, difficult breathing and tightness in the chest.
(Canadian centre for Occupational Health and Safety)
4:56 act clever
The look on his face says it all. He feels guilty.
@@lar.8168 Yeah, he obviously knows!
@@will1am905 but is being forced by the company who owns everything
Norilsk Nickel doesn’t like your facts or point of view
"the gas stinks"
It's telling that only the child was being honest with the situation.
Norilsk produces half of the world's palladium, which is used for catalytic converters. How poetic that cleaning the exhaust from the world's combustion engines produces this place.
Better to confine the pollution to one place way up north in the Arctic circle.
@@JimCampbell777 no... this id why the arctic circle is warming up lol
@@genos876 for Russian it is good
Not only that, it's the leading producer of nickel which will be used in batteries for electric vehicles. The 'green revolution' involves a lot of pollution.
@@adsensedd Nothing comes for free, right?
Is it just me or did anyone else appreciate the fact that this film showed the "ACT CLEVER" Putin card sitting on that Doctor's desk right after he uttered that bullshit about Sulphur dioxide? Brilliant film!
It wasn't really bullshit... the ATSDR says relatively the same thing about it.
Madara Uchiha It was irrelevant.
It got a good chuckle out of me. Especially after those shifty eyes.
Not quite properly translated, it's more like 'use your brain'
Sulfur dioxide causes indirect harm to humans not direct so this doctor's statements were completely true
4:48 you can just look at his face and tell that he's thinking "that wasn't true at all, I really just had to say that"
Then the shot of the Putin meme saying "Act Clever".
Then Putin looks at him: one more word and Gulag for you.
Elliott Maguire yes yes we’ve all seen that video
@Milan....smh...
Yep breathing in Sulfur Dioxide works wonders....gtfoh...
It's a well known pollutant that harms human health.. I'll bet you everything I own you are confusing sulfur dioxide with something else
@Milan Are you reading what you type??..Sulfur Dioxide is harmless.........
It doesn't cause instant death...any google search will tell you how bad it is FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES....
The most depressing thing to me is how everyone lives in those massive, bleak apartment buildings. The winter landscape actually looks beautiful
That town is not depressing, it's apocalypstic!
That is the Stalinist architectural style. The entire town was built by 500,000 people that were part of the gulag, and 16,000 died. Many almost were starved to death. A remnant of the Soviet Union.
Попробуйте построить что то для людей у которых нет денег.
I have seen similar apartment blocks in Brooklyn and Toronto.
@@epicmatter3512 It's literally not Stalinist architectural style but ok.
8:31- machines appear as enormous metal creatures in the semi darkness. Toxic beauty, the doctor spouting company propaganda, the vistas... and finally the people. Those who have made their peace and then the kids who get it and find environmental worry at a tender age. A stunning piece, thank you for this.
Guy goes swimming in freezing water and doesn't flinch and I'm shivering by the time I get out of my apartment and go to my garage.
Likly trying to catch some rays whilst chilling. Tempreture didn't raise abover 0°C 2006 and 2007 so if it reaches plus 2°C it's time for some sun bathing.
Russians
Probably water exhaust heat from the plants going there.
Megadriver I don't get it. I can't swim in fucking July.
So cold you have a chill seizure ? lol... it hurts.
I grew up in an industrial town in NJ. There is a strange and inexplicable beauty to smoke stakes, power lines, and shit all over everywhere. I can't explain it, but I am not kidding. I guess if you grew up in Hell, Hell is where your home is--and it is beautiful.
@Tia Yeah, it's fascinating how humans can adapt to every type of life style when they grow up with it.
Industrial landscapes are awe inspiring despite the harm they can produce, its strange
Homer Simpson?
maybe it's because human civilization fascinates you
@@matthewviramontes3131 lol I came from that short of the Simpsons
"Where's the smog?" -Someone from Beijing
You need heat for smog don't you?
My town used to get bad smog every summer when it would be almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit
@@JakoTheWacko you don't
@@JakoTheWacko No, there is actually more smog in Canada during the winter than the summer.
Or many an Asian city! 😅
"Man is the only beast who can adapt to anything. And that I think is the best definition of him." ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky.
A+ for beautiful cinematography- well done to the camera operators and directors and editors and journalists involved.
Norilsk is the perfect place to make dystopian SciFi films :-)
Brave kids swim in icy waters in there 9:30
Do not be fooled, the video images have been selected to distort the reality and make a propaganda video, I have been in Norilsk for 2 years and I can surely tell you that this is propaganda, a video with selected images to give a distorted narrative , it's as if I went to new york and started to record the bronx, or went to Detroit and went to UA-cam only the ugliest neighborhoods and streets, or as if it was the UK and I started to record Aylesbury Estate, It is obvious that this is a propaganda video if you want to know how it is norilsk I would recommend that you go to see how it really is
Unfortunately, in all parts of the world, journalism is distorted, so sensationalist news has more publicity, in this video I can say with certainty that the images have been selected to shape a distorted reality These are 2 excellent videos of a spanish journalist, this is really norilsk in winter and summer ua-cam.com/video/1czvg5yqBH8/v-deo.html ................... ua-cam.com/video/8OB1E4nCSbs/v-deo.html (cc)
I'm not doubting you at all, just curious as to what Norilsk is actually like. Would you say the people there are generally happy? Are there any large shopping centers or nice restaurants?
+17456particular
Happiness is relative, it depends on what you consider to be happiness. for example in many cosmopolitan cities that have everything and a good climate there are usually many suicides or crazy people who commit murders etc. but if you mean that in norilsk one can live well and adapt the truth is that yes, you have to take into account that norilsk is a business city, there is no one who stays to live there, the people who are there are people by contract the company that once you finish your contract the company itself provides you a house in the south of Russia where the weather is warm and there are beaches like in Sochi, but in Norilsk there is everything, shopping centers, gyms, swimming pools, park roofed aquatics, local television, coffee shops, restaurants, and many nightclubs to party
One of the advantages of Norilsk is that the salaries are very high, the salary of a worker in Norilsk is three times more than the salary of a European union worker, obviously something that can not be denied is that the winter season if it's very cold, but summers are also very warm, and you can only enter the city if you are hired by the company norilsk and russian citizen, since the whole city belongs to the company, as I told you norilsk is a city company. the city was only built so that the men could be close to the mines ... the city is not bad if we take into account that it is the northernmost city on the planet and that it is far from everything a hundred and hundred kilometers from the nearest town
but you can live well, especially when you know that at the end of your contract the company gives you a free house on the shores of the Black Sea at the edge of the beach
@Anelka Zeivh That doesn't really look any better. lol
It is a small mining city and it looks much better than Detroit
apart that the buildings that are there are not constructed to make a city if not only to house miners, has been grabbing city form by miners who take their families during their contract time, but if those buildings were only built to house miners
there was a time when nobody wanted to go to the norilsk mines, because by long contracts they meant that they would not see their families for a long time. It was then that the company decided to give permission to take their couples and that's how the city was taking shape, they started being born children and the company had to adapt that city and buildings, a city that was built in a principle only for miners, and it is still for miners since there is no one stays to live there, when a miner ends his contract or retires he has to leave, the company gives them a house in the southern Russian sonas where there is no snow during the year and the climate is temperate
although according to they are studying in the future to give the status of city to norilsk since now there are many miners who take to live their whole family and wish to settle there (currently norilsk is not a city to reside, it is a closed and private city, all the buildings belong to the mining company and are used for exclusive use of the miners and their families who have a contract, all the buildings and services there, hospitals, supermarkets, cinemas, schools, etc, are not put by the state, are built and managed by the mining company)
norilsk is the only city company that exists, a private city managed only and exclusively by a company, where it is the company that decides whether to let you enter
"When hell freezes over."
Norilsk: "Already beat you to it."
I think the best decision story wise, was the amount of literal and metaphorical space the viewers are given to try and contemplate on people's words and their love for this city. The silence and the slow pace give us enough time and visuals to see what they are describing, and to feel it as well. They seem to have romanticized their life in this city to a point of delirium and with the beautiful connection we get to these people and the beautiful shots of even objectively negative aspects, like the dead trees, we almost start agreeing with them. But then we hear the contrasting words from the children in juxtapose to what their elders say. It's as if the elders have been entranced by something in the air, and the children have yet to succumb to it's affects, seeing things in a much more negative light, or perhaps, a much more logical one. These stories about how people's individual ways of rationalizing their lives in the city are interrupted by evidence of larger powers that be, that deny negative effects of the toxic air, the interest at play by others is made visible and the illusion is broken. Then you could be in any town, in any country, and it's the same old story. The big guys want to make money, so they exploit a place in which people live, sacrificing their health and well being. And this magic Fairy Tale that a few residence tell us is broken. This was so well made :'-0
The Zone has many wonders.
*stalker
oh, my bad, i didnt realize you are "edgy"
IDGY
Stalker :)
Chiki briki !
The guy swimming at the end is actually 28.
It's my son and I'm in my 20s lol
@полая Христос a guy with a russian name gets upset by people mocking Trump. You just can't write this stuff.
@полая Христос "You can't write this stuff" is an American idom. It means that you're saying X thing is so funny or ridiculous that nobody could imagine it; only reality would produce such a situation. I'm not saying that you can't physically type that out because obviously you can.
Somehow he looks like that bad guy, who fell off in toxic cistern in Robocop movie, and every time that guy swims - he get's older and older lul
He looks in his 40s
The little girl is smarter than the doctor, or at least not on Putin's payroll.
Yes, smart thoughts if you hear it from a little girl. But also, the terribly sad truth is, that being 'smart' now is only saying 'plants produce oxygen. i like plants. i wish there would be more plants.' In a sane normal world saying this would not be considered smart, only an everyday fact. Even from a child, if they are taught properly. We must keep these children in their true beliefs, before their souls are destroyed. They are the ones who still know the basic truth, what they are born with.
This has been going on long before Putin.
@@Turbo_TechnoLogic Yes very much agree, but it never happens and the endless cycles of destruction and ignorance continue eternally!
The doctor is probably employed by Norilsk Nickel hence why he claimed SO2 has no effect on humans lol
Yeach, he lies.
We've got a genius here ladies and gentlemen.
He said it because he must. You can see it from his face
One thing for sure - no one is going to waste a nuke in WW3 on this one. If shit hits the fan - this place will be new beginning for humankind, they already live in post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Actually a nuke hitting this place would make sense, seeing as it is a very important producer of Nickel.
you need more to run a society than nickel.
@@LuckasMS on the other end, the attacking side would lose the nickel sources *forever* . I wouldn't do that. What's the point of total destruction if every resource are destroyed?
@@Nikola95inYT Ah not really forever, see Hiroshima for example, it was a big vibrant city before the atomic bomb and just some years after it was rebuilt and it is once again a metropolis
I think nuking this place would do this people a favor and end their suffering .. they all look and sound like braindead zombies living just to produce for their owner, Norlsk Nickel.
everything about this place makes me uncomfortable
Artfully done doc!
"...pollution near Norilsk is so severe that it has now become economically feasible to mine surface soil, as the soil has acquired such high concentrations of platinum and palladium." --Kramer, Andrew E. . "For One Business, Polluted Clouds Have Silvery Linings" The New York Times. (July 12, 2007)
Respect to these people for being so humble and optimistic about their city. They may seem depressed but at least they’re living a life.
Sorry to write this too late, but they have to say it or Putin will eat them for complaining.
@@uktea785 no
What?
Dude they are trapped there with not many other choices… do you even know a tiny bit of recent history?😌
@@alinavint3580bro, they can leave norilsk, if they have passport and money for the plane, and start new life somewhere in other part of federation.
Norlisk was founded by a Gulag, pretty much sums up the place . If Gulag created you, it's got to be depressing
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus By that rationale Australia - which was founded as a penal colony for the worst convicts - must "sum up that place" too. Especially since it's mostly desert and home to very dangerous and venomous animals, never mind the opposite seasons we have on the Northern hemisphere.
I was highlighting the absurdity of that statement. Sure, some places started off a penal colonies but it's ridiculous to believe it's somehow still a valid assessment of a place today.
"The outback of Australia is shit, ya, but the coast is paradise." Was it also a paradise when it was founded as a penal colony?? Things change. That was my argument.
"Nobody forces anyone to live anywhere in Australia that I know of." No, but they *did* . In the *past* . The first settlers weren't brought their by their own free will.
"This city in Russia is a slave colony." WAS a slave colony. Past time. Certainly isn't now. Nobody forces anybody to live there either. While there may not be much options for its citizens it's absurd to call the place a gulag today.
Obviously you neither understood the argument I was making nor did you understand that things change.
And btw - have you actually bothered to check out videos from Norilsk during the summer? I did - but I'm not the kind easily swayed by these kind of videos - and it doesn't look anywhere near as bad as these edited pictures. The people don't look depressed either. They look like people do in any other city on Earth. See for yourself. Must exist plenty of places in the world worse to live in - make that Somalia, Afghanistan and Niger to name but a few.
Sorry, I'd say living in a third world country where Malaria is commonplace, most of the population live on the countryside in simple mud huts, no law exists and bandits control much of the land, indoor plumbing is a rare luxury and time stands still in a simple, agricultural culture producing next to nothing makes remote, industrial outposts in Siberia appear like heaven.
Виктор Гы Витя, жги чертей напалмом!
Many different cities were built by slaves or convicts
McLarenMercedes
Doesn't really change the fact that everyone pretty much is a slave there.
Everything that u see in Norlisk is owned by the company Norlisk Nickel. Be it the apartments or be it a private business, everything belongs to that one company in the end, so if you talk shit about the place/company you will get "fired". So if you get thrown out of ur home because of this and add the fact that this company is also the one paying you + that there is only a port and an airport that can get u out of there (if it isn't winter). I don't know what that sounds like to you but for me it sounds like some sort of prison.
Now if we count the facts that the average worker in Norlisk has a lesser live expectency of 10 years compared to the normal russian worker + that the nearest river turned red for some reason and the citizens still don't know why, goes to show that this place is just bad in every aspect.
Also just saying that there are worse places to live in doesn't mean this isn't a bad place to live at.
Sure it might be better but not good.
I’m obsessed with this city and I have no idea why. I fell down a YT hole and ended up here. Crazy.
same. i discovered it somewhere on reddit and now i can't stop looking up more stuff about it!
@@ElsieWagerESBKAGY LOL, same here, from Reddit!
This city is depression given physical form.
I live in Norilsk its amazing!!!
help.
we'll get you out of there 😥🏃🏽♀️💨
You'll get out of there, believe me. If you want it you can do it.
"Esc engalnd" ok
I feel so sorry for these innocent children talking about wanting green plants and having stomach aches and coughs due to inhaling polluted air. Horrific. I'm sure there are no environmental protections there and the government doesn't give a shit.
Garland5 government does give a shit, Norilsk was much more polluted 10 years ago. Gov can't do much. NorNickel controls everything.
They have an ice skating rink; they should count their blessings, tbh.
Yeah lets hope the government gives a shit ,they really need to clean up Flint's water supply
even if the goverment gave a shit nornickel produces 2% of the russian gdp which is a lot
stop listening to the media about the Russian government and come visit it for your self :)
I would love to film a short movie in Norilisk. I find this melancholic, grey & cold dystopia beautiful
I think you will be able to find job there, as English teacher or something, people will love to learn English and leave that place forever.
no one that isn’t russian can visit Noril’sk
@@fieb7840 belarussians can + anyone can as part of certain organised tours (e.g. tour to putorana plateau with official guides goes through norilsk)
@Junior i think you can go there with this tour www.arcticrussiatravel.com/taymyr-peninsula/the-putorana-plateau/
search ninurta
I don't know who directed and filmed that, but they are very, very talanted. There's everything here - the picture, the story, the emotion. Beautiful.
Directed by Victoria Fiore, filmed by Alfredo De Juan
“it’s deadly beautiful” gave me the chills
“Sulphur dioxide doesn’t have an effect on human body.” What medical school did he go too?
Blue Sun Productions Putin U.
Blue Sun Productions The Medical Gulag for Distinguished Comrades or MGDC of course. Their motto is "Putin is watching"
Act Clever
A gulag.
For some reason, this city is weirdly beautiful. I know it makes no sense but I'll like to visit there someday.
It's a closed city. Only Russians (and Belarusians) are allowed there. But maybe one day that will change.
gideon agu key word being visit
Anel Zukix "bit more care" that would be an understatement lol.
gideon agu same dude, the city is stunning and really attracts me in a very weird way
There are a lot of closed cities in there
As depressing as it is, I really vibe with Norilsk for some reason. It looks beautiful, and if not for the cancerous air and how isolated it is, I would love to live there for some time or visit.
I agree on the air but it wouldn't be the same if it was closer to the rest of civilization
Мой родной любимый город.Давно живу на материке у моря.Но часто ночами моя душа бродит по улицам Норильска,где я родилась и прошли мои детство и юность.
I thought it was Los Vegas from Blade Runner 2049, but this works too.
Considering the state of Vegas and San Diego, this is what I imagine the entire Midwest looks like in the Blade Runner universe
I’m fascinated by this place
The harsh arctic weather, the slavic architecture, the size of the industrial plants, the fact that a company own pretty much everything there, the isolation of the city.
I would love to visit
People who genuinely love living there have the most beautiful souls.. Peace and beauty come from within.
This is the real live shot of what the ending of the book "The Lorax" was going for.
I've played 5 years of LOL so should be able to survive these toxic conditions
Welcome! Welcome to City 17! You have chosen, or been chosen, to relocate to one of our finest remaining urban centers. I thought so much of City 17 that I elected to establish my administration here, in the Citadel so thoughtfully provided by our benefactors. I've been proud to call City 17 my home. And so, whether you are here to stay, or passing through on your way to parts unknown - welcome to City 17. It's safer here.
Fantastic content and a very haunting, strangely beautiful place - it saddens me how insignificant human life must feel there, if this was a place where a person goes to live for 5 years to make good money and then move on I could understand that. But I bet the sad reality is that most of the workers are paid a pittance and don't have to the finances to move on even if they wanted to, I feel sorry for those poor children breathing in that air and swimming in that water.
4:52 that face is just telling us "im forced to say this, the govt and corps me to say this" mdrr
if there's internet and pizza, anywhere is liveable
Couldn't agree more
They have pizza and internet :)
based
Internet in such remote places is extremely expensive and slow. You can get unlimited line *up to* 3Mbit/s (highly doubt that the connection ever reaches that speed) for 1000 rubles per month. That's about $15, *but* since real average salary is about 20 000 rubles, you'd be potentially paying 1/20 of your salary before taxes for internet. Add absolutely insane prices for food and other products (remember that part about no roads leading to that city?) and you end up choosing between buying basic necessities or getting shitty internet. That place is barely liveable.
@@OFfic3R1K Interesting thx for the info 👍
All these shots look like they belong on a Pink Floyd album cover
the new metro looks great
You know Russians have to be tough to live in this climate.
The City has to be tough to have Russians living there
I wouldn't't survive there for a week in that harsh weather
а говорят марс не колонизировали, вот он
(translation: "and they say Mars haven't been colonized, here it is"
because lmao)
this video is absolutely beautifully made, editing, camera work and sound effects were just on point.
Everyone in the Rust Belt can relate to this, including me. Chicago born and bred, there's a beauty to the sadness.
Found this city on google earth and looked into it. There is something so evocative about its poisoned landscape and somber apartment blocks. After watching this and seeing residents speak about this with such reverence is very endearing.
I dream about places like this. I've always had a fascination with industrial towns and cities. But this place, wow. I kinda want to go there on a vacation and just explore and take photos.
Metro 2033
Without the thermonuclear war.
fr
Love that game/books
Home is where the heart is no matter if it is Norilsk or Boston.
Awesome documentary. Very interesting to see this city located in the arctic border, harsh climate and conditions but people still happy. Hi to all those brave souls in Norilsk here from Canada
4:40 Sulfur dioxide doesn't have an effect on the human body? That's just straight up lying: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur_dioxide#Safety
I think 4:56 explains it all.
That's what Russians do best: lie their asses off.
Yeah, I was surprised he didn't have a better answer than that because that is a very easy thing to look up.
Just watch his hands and how nervous he felt to say something he shouldn't say
Don't worry, solidarity will keep you healthy, now work harder you maggot.
Btw you can see on the look n his face that he is forced to say that, but he knows better.
Just yesterday I was watching videos about Norilsk and now this appeared on my subscription feed, what a coincidence! I hope they get to leave the town if the opportunity comes, it must be so difficult to live there.
Can your lung adaptat to that ?as you see there is an childrens out there
Indra Vargas It's no coincidence. They have algorhythms in control of this stuff.
Your lungs don't adapt to pollution; you just get used to it, like smokers get used to inhaling smoke. Pollution and smoke still damage your lungs, even if you can't feel it.
Catarino Bernardo João Yes, I have to agree with Robert B. Your body can get used to the sick feeling of pollution but it's still doing just as much damage. I assume it's our body's way of still going on and functioning even when conditions are harmful. Eventually though, it catches up to most people and lowers the life span. I sat next to a smoker for ten years off and on 24 hrs a day (handicapped, and chronically ill boyfriend who I took care of during that time. He couldn't go anywhere else, and I needed to be near him nearly all the time to tend to his needs. He couldn't/wouldn't stop. I was so so sick at first. But gradually I got more used to it. I still felt sick but just not as much. (I am assuming my lungs will recover though-hopefully))
That's youtube's algorithm giving you similar videos.
I haven't watched much content from this channel, but I absolutely love these short stories. Unlike many other (questionable) news outlets, these films are so open to interpretation. Sure, they made have been formatted and constructed in a somewhat suggestive manner, but they show both the positive and negative sides of a topic, allowing people to form their own view and opinions on it. Sadly, this is a rare experience these days.
I recently found a channel by a guy living in Norltsk. According to him, things aren’t as bad as the numbers make it seem, he even moved there from Romania to live with his wife. And while I think he probably has a rosier view of the place because he’s an atypical resident, there was an indoor water park and amusement park so there does at least seem to be some kind of facilities and entertainment, which plays a significant part in the psychology of people living in any place. So while it still doesn’t sound like a pleasant place to live, it seems that in recent years at least it isn’t the absolute worst.
Art ene*
I grew grew up about 500 miles away. Really interesting to see this beauty again. It is kind of terrifying though .
I really really miss pink purple sky.
The cameras captured the beauty of the city perfectly. Such a serene feel
4:45 Sulfur dioxide affects the respiratory system, particularly lung function, and can irritate the eyes. Sulfur dioxide irritates the respiratory tract and increases the risk of tract infections. It causes coughing, mucus secretion and aggravates conditions such as asthma and chronic bronchitis.
1:09 The Empire Strikes Back.
FR
Breathtakingly beautiful, but so awful not to be able to speak out about it!
literally "breathtaking"
Why “not to be able to speak out”? It’s not a closed city or military base, you can get into Norilsk or read dozens of articles about if
@@user-or1em8ku6i I mean their air is toxic. Just look at the doctors face after he says it'a harmless. He knows he's lying but it's dangerous to speak out against the government or that company there.
Cinematography in this is absurdly good. Breathtaking, simply breathtaking. And what a place. It's eerie, but there's something else to it... Almost charming, or hypnotizing. Just the idea of this little island of civilization in an endless ocean of snow, constantly bombarded by arctic winds. This whole thing just looks like some dystopian sci-fi in a strange way. Surreal is the word that comes to my mind.
The child who narrates on the environment seems pretty smart.
None:
Smol human: I wish i could have lots of plants... Trees used to be beautiful... but they became old...
Everyone: ; _ ;
There are indeed a lot of *plants* if you know what I mean
8:30
so beautiful
s4du12 i
The cinematography in this is so good!
This city is my small home. I was born there and lived for 40 years, the video is one-sided, does not reflect all the pictures. There is good and bad. There are 9 months of winter, the polar night, but at the same time, the lighting in the city is higher in luxury than in Moscow, just to make up for the lack of lighting. The polar day in summer compensates for the polar night. People lived on this land even before the advent of Norilsk Nickel.
My gosh Russians are tough. Can't imagine swimming in that icy water like that guy is doing.
Orthodox thing
Yeah it’s Siberian culture
He only did it that one time and drowned.
Nott just icy but i bet awfully dirty and pollutedd...one gulp of that water and you're in the hospital
@@DaniClipz We might have to go to a hospital if we did that, they are so toughened they don't even notice it
A really nice video imo, this city never ceases to amaze me, how people are okay with the intense cold, the pollution, the dystopian look. Yet I too find myself drawn to this appearance, the grey winter sky, the snow, the factories in the distance, the power cables, the tall soviet-esque flats, I feel like it's just bringing up happy memories of playing CoD where you'd also be in some otherworldly russian setting.
The cinematography from 8:24 is equally beautiful as it is eerie, the creaking of the cranes in the desolate wasteland gives me War of the Worlds vibes, giant machinery sprawled across a city.
9:15 ... actually he says "I like it here..." not "This is the place where I like to be".
Translation is rarely verbatim because the point being made by the speaker rarely maps to the other language word-by-word. I don't speak Russian the way you do, but I'd be willing to bet that the translator made a conscious decision to choose the second phrasing as a better qualitative match for the sentiment being conveyed, as all really good and artful translations must always do.
Which, if you're keeping score at home, is only about the 1,164th most precious and irreplaceable thing that we're about to lose without pausing to think about it because we've decided that eleven friendless foul-smelling twenty-two year-olds in Mountain View California should be in absolute and unchecked power over what's important and valuable.
When the mining stops, the whole place will be deserted
Don’t count on it.
In Russia they don't have a word for procrastination
-------------
So they just call it Putin it off
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At least they're not Russian about everywhere.
I beg to differ: мешкать (meshkat)
I thought it was Stalin
procrastination - "не делай сегодня то, что можно отложить на завтра"
What else is there to say? Well done.
This channel is a masterclass in filmmaking.
I was like watching "Stalker" by Tarkovsky
I can’t imagine living in a place like that but this video is fascinating.
EXCELLENT SERIES. Thank you The Atlantic.
Looks like future Mars colony.
When the mine is finally depleted, and people leave Norilsk, the deserted city they leave behind will be stunningly eerie and beautiful.
This video is a masterpiece. If only UA-cam had more stuff like this.
The cinematography is hauntingly beautiful.
Just a few facts for nuance:
First, a large chunk of the city is actually quite well-kept, with fresh buildings and clean streets, lots of shops and what not. Doesn't even look half bad. They are renovating a lot these days too, plus building new things that don't fade the same way in the Arctic climate. The old concrete residential blocks on the outskirts are mighty depressing though, and that's always what filmmakers focus on. Likewise, they prefer to go there in the cold(er) months, for that extra gray touch. It's fairly vibrant in the summer, in fact.
Secondly, Norilsk Nickel has gotten its act together regarding the pollution, and they're now working with international experts on how to reduce it. Two big projects are going on at present, and they aim to reduce the sulphur dioxide emissions by up to 70-80% over the coming five years. So, things are hopefully going to improve quite a lot soon.
Thirdly, if you venture outside of the city, just an hour to the east or so, you have some of the most pristine natural environments on Earth, with vast taigas, crystal clear lakes, beautiful mountains. It's quite bizarre what contrasts there are.
And at last, a large (16-inch) pepperoni pizza is about 10 bucks in Norilsk (I saw somebody ask about that), which is uber expensive by Russian standards. Decent-speed internet is rather cheap (15 bucks a month).
Worth a visit? Hell yes, it's an experience, both for those looking for scenes of post-communist industrial decay and those looking for amazing natural beauty. Would I want to _live_ there? Nope! But give it ten years or so, and I'm sure it's not going to be worse than your average industrial city. Well, except that awful (winter) climate and the ridiculous remoteness of it all.
Yes re: get out of the city the surroundings are as good as i gets
Half-Life 3 is looking even more realistic than i imagined! Good job Valve!
5:30 the child's speech is SO scripted it's crazy. "The trees were beautiful"... They probably were already dead when she was born...
yeah, put me off a little
I was wondering where she had the frame of reference to know that her city was toxic and that she wanted to leave. You think she was just told to say that?
Michael Those kids have internet and tv...they know what other places look like, you know. I’ve been learning Russian for a few years now & a lot of the kids I’ve heard from over there sound surprisingly mature for their age.
@@Michael-lc8yl Probably watch tv and see how others live...
Idiot, she said used to be so beautiful she never said she saw them
This looks like star wars
This is a beautiful film, thank you.