Mind the Gap

With his hit film BAUER UNSER, Robert Schabus got to the heart of the problems of agriculture in a way that was as critical as it was precise. Now he explores the question of why a growing number of people have lost hope for a better future and trust in politics, and why this goes to the very heart of democracy. The cinematic journey takes us across Europe and shows us the dark sides of a free movement of goods and services that is one-sidedly oriented to the needs of large corporations and leaves people helpless on the losing side: Industries that are migrating, rural areas that are becoming desolate, migrant workers who are lacking at home and depressing wages far away, working poor who face a pension of poverty, and people to whom the environment they have been familiar with for decades is becoming increasingly alien. A divide pervades our society, and those who feel marginalized are susceptible to right-wing populist slogans, hostility toward the EU and nation-state egoism. Scholars and (ex-)politicians explain on an analytical level how little citizens now find themselves in everyday politics. But the focus is on those people who are left alone with their powerlessness and anger. The film listens to them without contradicting them and without lecturing us; this alone makes it a - sometimes provocative - food for thought. Thus, MIND THE GAP is not only a warning cry about democracy, but also an exercise in democratic understanding and tolerance.