Smog (1973)

Ruhr region, Day 1: As every day, Elvira Rykalla packs breakfast for her husband. As every day, he cleans the film of grime that has formed overnight from his car windows, then drives to work. Their baby, only a few months old, is restless and cries a lot. The doctor suspects a cold. However, monitoring stations report a sulfur dioxide concentration of more than 1 mg/m³, and Smog Alert Level 1 is declared. At first, this brings recommendations but no binding restrictions on industry, traffic, or private households. Life goes on as usual. Mr. Grobeck, director of the fictional industrial conglomerate Globag, is driven to work by his chauffeur as he is every day, and that evening an MSV Duisburg football match is held. When several players collapse on the pitch with breathing difficulties (Bernard Dietz is named; he is the first to collapse and is carried off the field), the match is not stopped, despite the doctor’s advice. Fans leaving by car are, however, asked to set off gradually to ease the pollution burden. By Day 2, the situation has worsened. Sulfur dioxide levels in certain parts of the Ruhr region have risen above 2 mg/m³. The news reports on the smog in the Ruhr region, said to be caused mainly by unfavorable temperature-inversion conditions. There is no wind to carry the exhaust fumes away from the cities in the Ruhr. The Smog Warning Service Committee in Düsseldorf eventually declares Smog Alert Level 2, after there had still been speculation about lifting Level 1. Level 2 bans the use of private cars in the affected area. Detours around the restricted zone in Essen are set up, and the resulting traffic chaos claims the first lives. It is speculated that smog is partly responsible for the deaths, although panic is to be avoided. Protests break out outside the Globag plants: the factory had been built on one of the last green spaces in the Ruhr region. Mr. Grobeck warns the people at the monitoring stations about the consequences they could face if their readings prove to be false. He wants to prevent his plant from having to halt production. On the third day, the Ruhr region grinds to a halt and the roads are mostly empty, although drivers who refuse to comply repeatedly argue with the police at the restricted-zone barriers. Only the motorways around the restricted areas are jammed. Accidents keep occurring, along with serious injuries and deaths; the victims can only be transported away with difficulty. Hospitals are overflowing with people suffering from respiratory problems. A film studio has to suspend filming because the overcrowded hospitals need the studio as an emergency ward. At Globag, management engages in disputes with demonstrators, at times in front of rolling cameras. Tempers are frayed on both sides. Meanwhile, Elvira Rykalla cannot stop worrying about her baby’s health and takes the child to a hospital. At first she is turned away, but eventually she is allowed to stay. The baby is examined by a senior Bundeswehr medical officer brought in to help, and a respiratory illness is diagnosed—but it is impossible to tell whether it is due to a typical childhood illness or to the smog. By Day 4, the newspapers are filled with death notices, taking up eight times as much space as usual. The entire Essen city district is still a restricted area, but the scientists are able to give the all-clear, and the crisis team sees the measures ending soon as the weather is changing. Indeed, the wind picks up. Sulfur dioxide levels fall rapidly in a very short time, allowing politicians to lift Smog Alert Level 2. The satisfied decision-makers find it difficult to draw any conclusions from those days. The exact number of deaths cannot be established—what is certain is that it is negligible compared with the 1952 London smog disaster—nor can any particular failure in the response to the smog be discussed at that point. Life goes on, with queues of cars, smoking chimneys, and planes polluting the air. Only the Rykalla family has to cope with a devastating loss: their baby has died from the effects of the respiratory illness.