USA. A documentary film about the depletion of once fertile US lands as a result of their predatory exploitation.
The film covers the period from the end of the 19th century to the mid-1930s.
Map of America, the borders of the so-called "Great Plains", stretching from Montana and North Dakota to Texas, 625 thousand miles long, with an area of 400 million acres.
Eared field.
Panorama of the plain, a herd of cows grazing, guarded by cowboys on horseback.
A cowboy surveys the steppe expanses.
Cows are driven into a corral USA. Covered wagons of the first settlers heading west.
Wagon races to mark the boundaries of captured areas.
A hammer drives a pole into the ground.
A sharp plowshare raises virgin soil.
A farmer kneads a lump of earth in his hands.
Eared field, harvesting.
A team with a large number of horses harvesting wheat.
The wings of the mower are spinning, the grain is in sacks in the USA. Gradually these lands that used to give harvests are being depleted.
A farmer's house, a cart wheel is lying around.
A man is walking behind a horse with a plow, a furrow in the ground.
A woman is sweeping the porch of the house from sand.
A man is dragging a plow, walking slowly, looking at the scorching sun, throwing down the harness.
Tractors appear in the fields.
An explosion, the earth is thrown up: World War I begins.
Newspaper headlines: "England declares war on Germany", "Belgium is occupied", "France wins at sea".
A tractor is plowing the land.
Newspaper headlines: "Wilson declares war, spy network discovered, German ships arrested".
Tractors are driving across the field
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USA. The wings of a mower are spinning, a stream of grain is flowing through a pipe, pouring into a heap.
A comparison of a pipe and a gun muzzle.
A steamship is sailing against the backdrop of New York.
Tractors are moving across a field.
Tanks are moving, they are shooting.
People are greeting the marching troops.
Tractors are moving towards the horizon.
A field with wheat, US combines are working.
The government is issuing leaflets calling for people to move to western free lands, 30 thousand farms are being sold, 3 million acres of land.
Combines in the field.
Grain is pouring out of the pipe.
Work in the twilight.
As a result of predatory exploitation, by the end of the 1920s, fertile lands are almost completely depleted and stop yielding crops.
The bones of dead animals lie on the parched earth.
There are combines, plows, seeders, machine parts, an abandoned locomotive.
A pump, a wheel, a dog is lying around, with breathing with difficulty from drought.
The boundary of the plot, human feet step on the sand.
Destroyed agricultural machinery lies on the ground.
The wind drives the sand.
The windmill spins.
The farmer looks sadly
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USA. Wind is fluttering wires, a lantern near the house.
Stormy sky, a sandstorm is rising.
A child is running.
A hurricane is hitting the city, people are running.
Tornadoes are visible in the distance, the wind is blowing sand.
The house is covered with sand, a dust curtain.
After the hurricane, a farmer is digging sand from his house, children are watching their father.
Farmers who were completely ruined during the crisis are leaving their homes and are left without shelter and food.
A family is loading a simple scrub onto a cart.
They are leaving by car, abandoning their house.
The former "great plain" is turning into a desert.
Cars with families of farmers are driving along the road, stopping at a tent city.
Women are unpacking things.
Abandoned farms, dried-up trees and sand USA. Map of America with the "great plain". 40 million acres of abandoned land.
Statistical tables of the activities of the "resettlement administration" created by the Roosevelt government to help ruined farmers move from depleted lands to new lands.
New farmers, trucks with farmers driving.
Sandy field, wind swaying blades of grass
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