Rie, a female PR coordinator dealing with a promotion of what seems to be a perfect example of intra-European collaboration, delves deep into the yard to interview some of the champions of this wonder. She’s visiting a tunnel boring machine on the Copenhagen worksite of a new metro line to portray the well-oiled European cooperation in the Metro construction when an accident suddenly occurs. Inside the massive tunnel borer, they find themselves trapped in a hellish airlock, facing an ever-dwindling oxygen supply. Unable to escape, she takes refuge in an airlock with Croatian miner Ivo and Bhran, a worker from Eritrea. Suddenly, what already seemed like a confined space turns into a real prison. They find themselves having to share more than they ever thought possible: water, air, anguish and madness, hoping to be saved from what seems to be a very dangerous fire.
They put their lives and bodies in each other’s hands to survive the heat, pressure and mud in the claustrophobic cutterhead, exposing their radically different world views and forcing them to reconsider their lives – before finally being rescued.
Cutterhead is also a relevant statement on the issue of migrant workers.