COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Heroes We follow Ukrainian miners as they go underground to dig the last pieces of coal from exhausted mine shafts.

http://youtu.be/vWgEzYefFYI

Filmmaker: Michael Glawogger

'Work is often difficult to see, and therefore difficult to depict. Physical labour is probably the only real kind of work.' Michael Glawogger

'Our enthusiasm comes from the will to survive. We work to survive. If you don't work, you'll freeze to death.' - A Ukrainian miner

Working Man's Death looks at the state of physical work across the world today. Work that is dreary, demanding and, at times, dangerous.

In this episode, we go to Ukraine where, amid a bleak landscape, freelance miners spend long days crawling underground to dig out the last pieces of coal from exhausted mine shafts.

As one miner explains: 'Of course our pit is illegal according to the law, but we see things differently. The state doesn't give us work or wages. But we have to survive somehow and feed our families, our children. I'm doing things to survive, no more and no less.'

Source: Al Jazeera