Solitary Plains

It's the middle of winter in North Dakota, where James now lives with his father. Like thousands of others, his dad went looking for work in the oil fields in this extremely desolate area. The little boy tells in voice-over about their hard daily existence, against the background of equally terrifying and beautiful shots of burning, hellish oil fields, nodding donkeys in the morning light and harsh snowstorms. But young as he is, he has few illusions about life. He doesn’t go to school, but spends his days playing video games and hanging around outside with stray dogs, between rows of dilapidated mobile homes. And waiting. Hours of waiting, for his father finally to come home. James has grown to hate the oil fields. After all, they’re a symbol of poverty and loneliness. When he grows up, he wants to be a pilot, or maybe a chef. But he is also very levelheaded about his future: “When I’m 18, I might actually have to take on the oil job.” is a compact, spot-on portrait of poverty, survival and the failure of the American dream, as seen through the eyes of an unexpectedly innocent, yet remarkably precocious child.