Cutterhead
The story begins with Rie at an underground drilling site. She is taking photos and asking questions of the crew. She is an artist/photographer/journalist doing a piece on the giant machines undergrou…
Cutterhead
The story begins with Rie at an underground drilling site. She is taking photos and asking questions of the crew. She is an artist/photographer/journalist doing a piece on the giant machines underground that society relies on. The workers are from all over, all speak different languages and have different backgrounds. Rie has a hard time connecting with them even though most of them speak English and they all have things in common like families and kids. She would like to go into the main drill and see how it works with an experienced worker, Vio and his helper Bharag. However, the foreman sees her inside and explains it is not safe, there are only two tanks oxygen so only two people should go. He does allow Rie to sit outside and watch via camera and through the window. She sees that the pressure inside the container is similar to being far under the ocean as Bharag shows her a water bottle squeezing under the pressure. While Vio is inside working on the cutter head, which seems to be the main drill head, the foreman hears an alarm for carbon monoxide poisonous gas somewhere in the tunnel. A red light is blinking. Rie asks what is going on and the foreman explains he does not know. Finally above the machinery in the tunnel the Foreman sees smoke indicating a fire. He tells Rei to get inside the cutter's medical bay and he will turn on the oxygen. He also gives her a breather. He shuts the door, locking her in. Vio and Bharag are in the tiny compartment next to hers. She tries to explain she does not know what is going on. Some time passes in which we see Rie getting warmer and warmer in the medical bay. She starts to sweat and removes all non-essential clothing. She takes a look at the thermometer and it is 50C- very hot. She bangs on the window to the main compartment and yells through that she is very hot and needs to get out. She takes a piece of heavy equipment and manages to loosen the large screw holding the doors between the compartments sealed, and moves from the medical bay into the main compartment with Vio and Bharag. They close the door behind her, so now all 3 are in the same small compartment. Vio explains if there was a fire it would explain the heat in the outer medical compartment. Rie asks how much oxygen Vio does not know and says the best thing to do is to calmly wait for help so as to save as much oxygen as possible. Rie also asks how close they are to the neighboring station where they are drilling to, and with his hands shows a distance of about 2-3 feet. Some time passes in which we see them undressing, getting comfortable, maybe sleeping, looking bored. Bharag shares a sandwich with Rie. He tells her not to drink too much water and she asks why, prompting a conversation about Bharag being smuggled out of his home country, Eritrea, and how the smugglers would taint the water with gasoline to prevent people from drinking too much. Rie prompts Vio for action saying they cannot wait, how does anyone know they are there? What if they die waiting for help? Vio explains the pressure to get outside is too much, and opening the door would cause any fire to consume the last of their oxygen. He explains there is a medical supply area outside but it is too dangerous for any of them to go, and they are not even sure the supplies are still there, so the resolve to wait. Rie's phone goes off- it is not a call though, it is an alarm that she is supposed to pick up her daughter from school. A conversation about their families passes between the three of them, with Rie admitting she had not even thought of her daughter, and Vio shaming her for not thinking of her kids. Vio insists they continue to wait for help even though they are all hot and breathing laboriously. Rie seems to accept his course of action but secretly doesn't. A short time later she claims she has to pee and says she will go into the medical bay to do so, asking for the door to be shut for privacy. What she really tries to do is shut the door between the compartments, effectively locking Vio and Bharag inside the main compartment, while she stays in the medical bay with a breathing filter. Before she can secure the door with the large clunky screw, Vio realizes what she is doing and pushes it open. He sees she was hiding a breather in the medical compartment the whole time, and sees that she had tried to lock them out. Suddenly the lights go out- we are not sure what happens, but we can assume that Vio and Rie are fighting over the breather. Eventually a flashlight is turned on. Vio has the breather and states that now he can get to the medical supplies outside and see if there are any left, yelling at Rie that she should have told them sooner there was a breather. Vio is visibly upset with Rie and instructs Bharag to zip tie Rei to a pipe which he does. They have a short debate on who should go out, with Bharag saying he needs to survive for his family, for money. Rie doesn't seem to trust Vio and Bharag is also on edge about who should take the breather and try to make it to the supply closet, neither says anything but what if Vio just leaves them and does not return? Despite only just requesting Bharag zip tie Rie to a pipe and suggesting they should have "just killed her", Vio seems genuinely conflicted about leaving. Just as Vio seems to take action to leave there is light outside the small window. A rescue crew has arrived. They say they will open the door from outside but before they do Vio says they must decompress the unit or they will all die. The crew says they will have to decompress from the inside because the machinery outside is broken. Vio begins the decompression. While the members are laying down, Rie asks Bharag why he owes his family money. Bharag explains to Rie he was kidnapped while travelling and his family had to pay a lot of money to free him and now they have nothing, so he needs to stay alive to pay them back. Rie asks how much and he says, too much. She repeats and he finally relents, $8,000. Rie says she has that and she can pay it for him when they get out. As soon as the decompression is finished and the rescue crew attempt to open the door there is an explosion outside and the rescue crew is killed, the window covered by smoke and debris. Heat from the outside explosion increase the temperature inside the medical bay room, melting their boots and creating noxious smoke in the room. All three occupants struggle go back into the main compartment in a desperate attempt to exit through small opening where the cutter head is. Despite their exhaustion and panic from both the decompression and subsequent explosion, the still they manage to exit however, as Vio is going in and out of consciousness, Vio falls out of the opening, hits a metal beam and is mortally wounded. Vio says a few final words in a foreign language but even Bharag doesn't understand. While Bharag is grieving the death of his colleague and friend, Rie investigates the area where the cutter head was last digging and discovers an opening. She asks Bharag to help her dig though the opening with hopes of getting to the nearby station and escaping this way. Bharag digs through and Rie follows but gets stuck in the process. Bharag attempts to pull Rie through when some dirt above shifts and covers them. Rie uses her mobile phone light to find Bharag to find him unconscious. Rie tries to rouse Bharag but he seems to have been concussed. Rie continues the progress of Bharag in a desperate attempt to break through to the neighboring station. Despite her efforts she keeps hitting metal- it is useless. She lays down with Bharag and says they need to stay warm and stay together. Finally, as oxygen levels are rapidly depleting, Rie resorts to the breather, setting it up for her and Bharag. They pass the breather back and forth and as Bharag regains consciousness, so does his tenacity for the oxygen. At first they pass the breather back and forth, taking longer breaths than the last and becoming more anxious and desperate for oxygen all while Bharag revives. This fight for oxygen culminates to the a climactic proposition; between breaths Rie says "For your family," another breath, "the money", suggesting that if he sacrifices himself and gives her the oxygen, she will pay his family the money he owes. A staggered struggle ensues which results in Bharag keeping the breather, while he pushes Rie's face down into the mud and away from him. Rie resists for a bit until she gives out and stops fighting for the breather. The scene fades to black for a while. Moments later, light breaks through, and Rie's body is pulled from the tunnel. Bharag barely looks alive himself but opens his eyes when he sees the light. The scene then cuts to Bharag sitting in what appears to be another chamber, presumably rescued, however still situated in the underground complex. Bharag is clean and bandaged with an oxygen mask around his face. He looks across from him to see Rie on the other side, laying down, strapped onto the bed and gently breathing with a tube in her mouth. For a moment he does not seem sure she is alive. While he looks at her he sees her breathing and subsequently removes his mask as though about to follow an impulse to get up and move toward her. Then Rie's fingers move as she comes to and Bharag stops and watches attentively. Rie struggles for a moment with her eyes closed until she open her eyes and realizes she is strapped onto the bed. She then sees Bharag opposite her who is staring at her. She looks somewhat scared as she stares back and he looks uncertain like he don't know what he is about to do. The camera pans to outside the chamber where you can only look through a round window to see only Rie's face now frozen, staring, unblinking at Bharag for an uncomfortably long time. End.
Cutterhead
Drama,Thriller
Film Details
The story begins with Rie at an underground drilling site. She is taking photos and asking questions of the crew. She is an artist/photographer/journalist doing a piece on the giant machines underground that society relies on.
The workers are from all over, all speak different languages and have different backgrounds. Rie has a hard time connecting with them even though most of them speak English and they all have things in common like families and kids. She would like to go into the main drill and see how it works with an experienced worker, Vio and his helper Bharag.
However, the foreman sees her inside and explains it is not safe, there are only two tanks oxygen so only two people should go. He does allow Rie to sit outside and watch via camera and through the window. She sees that the pressure inside the container is similar to being far under the ocean as Bharag shows her a water bottle squeezing under the pressure.
While Vio is inside working on the cutter head, which seems to be the main drill head, the foreman hears an alarm for carbon monoxide poisonous gas somewhere in the tunnel. A red light is blinking. Rie asks what is going on and the foreman explains he does not know.
Finally above the machinery in the tunnel the Foreman sees smoke indicating a fire. He tells Rei to get inside the cutter's medical bay and he will turn on the oxygen. He also gives her a breather.
He shuts the door, locking her in. Vio and Bharag are in the tiny compartment next to hers. She tries to explain she does not know what is going on.
Some time passes in which we see Rie getting warmer and warmer in the medical bay. She starts to sweat and removes all non-essential clothing. She takes a look at the thermometer and it is 50C- very hot.
She bangs on the window to the main compartment and yells through that she is very hot and needs to get out. She takes a piece of heavy equipment and manages to loosen the large screw holding the doors between the compartments sealed, and moves from the medical bay into the main compartment with Vio and Bharag. They close the door behind her, so now all 3 are in the same small compartment.
Vio explains if there was a fire it would explain the heat in the outer medical compartment. Rie asks how much oxygen Vio does not know and says the best thing to do is to calmly wait for help so as to save as much oxygen as possible. Rie also asks how close they are to the neighboring station where they are drilling to, and with his hands shows a distance of about 2-3 feet.
Some time passes in which we see them undressing, getting comfortable, maybe sleeping, looking bored. Bharag shares a sandwich with Rie. He tells her not to drink too much water and she asks why, prompting a conversation about Bharag being smuggled out of his home country, Eritrea, and how the smugglers would taint the water with gasoline to prevent people from drinking too much.
Rie prompts Vio for action saying they cannot wait, how does anyone know they are there? What if they die waiting for help? Vio explains the pressure to get outside is too much, and opening the door would cause any fire to consume the last of their oxygen. He explains there is a medical supply area outside but it is too dangerous for any of them to go, and they are not even sure the supplies are still there, so the resolve to wait. Rie's phone goes off- it is not a call though, it is an alarm that she is supposed to pick up her daughter from school.
A conversation about their families passes between the three of them, with Rie admitting she had not even thought of her daughter, and Vio shaming her for not thinking of her kids. Vio insists they continue to wait for help even though they are all hot and breathing laboriously. Rie seems to accept his course of action but secretly doesn't.
A short time later she claims she has to pee and says she will go into the medical bay to do so, asking for the door to be shut for privacy. What she really tries to do is shut the door between the compartments, effectively locking Vio and Bharag inside the main compartment, while she stays in the medical bay with a breathing filter. Before she can secure the door with the large clunky screw, Vio realizes what she is doing and pushes it open.
He sees she was hiding a breather in the medical compartment the whole time, and sees that she had tried to lock them out. Suddenly the lights go out- we are not sure what happens, but we can assume that Vio and Rie are fighting over the breather. Eventually a flashlight is turned on.
Vio has the breather and states that now he can get to the medical supplies outside and see if there are any left, yelling at Rie that she should have told them sooner there was a breather. Vio is visibly upset with Rie and instructs Bharag to zip tie Rei to a pipe which he does. They have a short debate on who should go out, with Bharag saying he needs to survive for his family, for money.
Rie doesn't seem to trust Vio and Bharag is also on edge about who should take the breather and try to make it to the supply closet, neither says anything but what if Vio just leaves them and does not return? Despite only just requesting Bharag zip tie Rie to a pipe and suggesting they should have "just killed her", Vio seems genuinely conflicted about leaving. Just as Vio seems to take action to leave there is light outside the small window. A rescue crew has arrived.
They say they will open the door from outside but before they do Vio says they must decompress the unit or they will all die. The crew says they will have to decompress from the inside because the machinery outside is broken. Vio begins the decompression.
While the members are laying down, Rie asks Bharag why he owes his family money. Bharag explains to Rie he was kidnapped while travelling and his family had to pay a lot of money to free him and now they have nothing, so he needs to stay alive to pay them back. Rie asks how much and he says, too much.
She repeats and he finally relents, $8,000. Rie says she has that and she can pay it for him when they get out. As soon as the decompression is finished and the rescue crew attempt to open the door there is an explosion outside and the rescue crew is killed, the window covered by smoke and debris.
Heat from the outside explosion increase the temperature inside the medical bay room, melting their boots and creating noxious smoke in the room. All three occupants struggle go back into the main compartment in a desperate attempt to exit through small opening where the cutter head is. Despite their exhaustion and panic from both the decompression and subsequent explosion, the still they manage to exit however, as Vio is going in and out of consciousness, Vio falls out of the opening, hits a metal beam and is mortally wounded.
Vio says a few final words in a foreign language but even Bharag doesn't understand. While Bharag is grieving the death of his colleague and friend, Rie investigates the area where the cutter head was last digging and discovers an opening. She asks Bharag to help her dig though the opening with hopes of getting to the nearby station and escaping this way.
Bharag digs through and Rie follows but gets stuck in the process. Bharag attempts to pull Rie through when some dirt above shifts and covers them. Rie uses her mobile phone light to find Bharag to find him unconscious.
Rie tries to rouse Bharag but he seems to have been concussed. Rie continues the progress of Bharag in a desperate attempt to break through to the neighboring station. Despite her efforts she keeps hitting metal- it is useless.
She lays down with Bharag and says they need to stay warm and stay together. Finally, as oxygen levels are rapidly depleting, Rie resorts to the breather, setting it up for her and Bharag. They pass the breather back and forth and as Bharag regains consciousness, so does his tenacity for the oxygen.
At first they pass the breather back and forth, taking longer breaths than the last and becoming more anxious and desperate for oxygen all while Bharag revives. This fight for oxygen culminates to the a climactic proposition; between breaths Rie says "For your family," another breath, "the money", suggesting that if he sacrifices himself and gives her the oxygen, she will pay his family the money he owes. A staggered struggle ensues which results in Bharag keeping the breather, while he pushes Rie's face down into the mud and away from him.
Rie resists for a bit until she gives out and stops fighting for the breather. The scene fades to black for a while. Moments later, light breaks through, and Rie's body is pulled from the tunnel.
Bharag barely looks alive himself but opens his eyes when he sees the light. The scene then cuts to Bharag sitting in what appears to be another chamber, presumably rescued, however still situated in the underground complex. Bharag is clean and bandaged with an oxygen mask around his face.
He looks across from him to see Rie on the other side, laying down, strapped onto the bed and gently breathing with a tube in her mouth. For a moment he does not seem sure she is alive. While he looks at her he sees her breathing and subsequently removes his mask as though about to follow an impulse to get up and move toward her.
Then Rie's fingers move as she comes to and Bharag stops and watches attentively. Rie struggles for a moment with her eyes closed until she open her eyes and realizes she is strapped onto the bed. She then sees Bharag opposite her who is staring at her.
She looks somewhat scared as she stares back and he looks uncertain like he don't know what he is about to do. The camera pans to outside the chamber where you can only look through a round window to see only Rie's face now frozen, staring, unblinking at Bharag for an uncomfortably long time. End..