Chernobyl HBO Miniseries

He should come to Hollywood and, if he's lucky, within a year he'll be wearing tights and a cape and do some real acting.

 

OMG, look at that:
Russian TV to air its own patriotic retelling of Chernobyl story
Russian version will revolve around role of a CIA agent before the nuclear accident

“There is a theory that the Americans had infiltrated the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and many historians do not deny that on the day of the explosion an agent of the enemy’s intelligence services was present at the station,” Muradov told the tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, which said the show “proposes an alternative view on the tragedy in Pripyat”.

Russian TV to air its own patriotic retelling of Chernobyl story

 

Oh. this should be interesting.....
I can imagine a young, sexy Putin...to the rescue!

 

Haha
...hunting the CIA agent:


"there is a theory"
"many historians do not deny"
We need names and facts.
Sounds like Flat-Earthers have a theory on how it really happened.

 

I feel in advance that my response to your understandable question will be unsatisfactory! What I embraced was the ambiguity, the jarring presence of the image, on a visceral moment coming when it did. What could it mean? Instinctively I felt it was meant to convey a sense of the loss and desolation of the abandoned town. Perhaps more explicitly it could subconsciously refer to the children in the area whose lives were uprooted, or even destroyed. It could also point back to America, as an American symbol (or, a somewhat cheap looking, mildly creepy imitation of one.) Could this happen here? "This" meaning, this type of accident, but also could "this" happen meaning could we suffer as a result of a government obscuring its failures through outright lies?

I looked into it further afterwards and found that there was a real Mickey Mouse statue seen in Chernobyl photographs:
I was looking at old pictures of Pripyat and spotted the mickey mouse : ChernobylTV

The first commenter there is the creator/writer of the series, and his comment is interesting from a production standpoint - it was a re-creation.

I also dug up what appears to be the script of the final episode:
https://johnaugust.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Chernobyl_Episode-5Vichnaya-Pamyat.pdf

And in it, the sequence in question is written like this:

I think that probably says it all as far as the intention. I don't see it as a significant moment in the series or its meaning, despite my lengthy comments here. But I called it out because I thought it was a bold choice for the filmmakers to insert at that precise moment; something mildly disturbing, simple yet suggesting something abstract. Especially how it came right as we were in the middle of the climactic court scenes. I like when a good piece of filmmaking disturbs and forces us to question, maybe even that little moment worked for me in that way.

 

That's crazy. I never heard or read even a hint or slightest rumours about such possibility. And believe me, all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories are popular where I live...

 

Ah! Thank you. I meant to look it up but forget. Ze (Cyrillic) - Wikipedia

 

My thoughts exactly! This tale comes totally out of the blue. There have been discussions about minor details, about central characters and clichés but nowhere was even the slightest hint to be found that this could have been something different from an accident. To name a completely fictitious story a "theory" and an "alternative view" is not only ridiculous but also very sad. There are those people who want to believe crap like this.

You're welcome. Unfortunately my language skills in Russian are very limited. I did learn a few basics but have forgotten most already. I do recall the alphabet.

 

Brush up on your English, too!

I kid. It’s amazing. People like you make me ashamed that I only know one language.

 

I know it's not intentional, but that Mickey mouse statue made me think of the climatic scene in Full Metal Jacket and the absurdity of following government orders/logic, etc.
Some form of intertextuality?

 

I don't think this has been posted here already. It's a more detailed look at the design and construction of the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement.

 

I returned from a week long vacation and was able to watch the final episode this morning.....WOW, an amazing finale to an incredible series. One of the best, if not the best mini series I've seen.

The attention to detail in regards to set design for this period time piece is near flawless. They absolutely nailed this event in our global history with precision and story telling that is riveting.
Highly recommended.

 

When he fell down at the hockey exhibition after scoring lots of goals was funny.

 

Don’t! Unfortunately I am not particularly talented, I just have a lot of hobbies and interests. That’s why I started a lot of things but didn’t manage to finish most of them. Languages are a prime example.
I admire people who were raised bilingually (e.g. English father and French mother) because it often means growing up bi-cultural as well.

Here is a short documentary about tourism in Chernobyl that was recently made available for English audiences on Deutsche Welle :

 

I was at the RX”’s office today and there was a National Geographic from 1987 sitting there and an article on “Chernobyl: one year later.” Here are some photos from that rooftop scenario. The stories said the reason why the bottom of that black and white photo is Whited our is the film is fogged up from the radiation.

 

Well done. Thank you for the voluminous response! Sincerely appreciated. The children - very poignant.

 

Very interesting article from the BBC:
'I saw the damage': Chernobyl workers assess TV series

 

I liked the series in general, although I had hoped to learn a bit more about the events in five hours. Some scenes were too long.

One long part that I found bizarre was, in Episode 4, the over the top psychological drama about soldiers hunting and killing irradiated pets in the abandoned city. It looked as if the writers had more empathy for animals than for those volunteers who gave their life in order to save others.

After watching the first episodes, I went on Google Maps to browse around the city of Pripyat. It's amazing how much nature has reconquered space in that area.

 

There was a documentary on Arte several years ago with exactly that subject. It was very interesting and I was really surprised how well nature adapted to the constant radiation.

Sorry, it's in German only. There should be at least a French version as well.

 

Was Pripyat merely a town that was supported by Chernobyl workers? I guess in a communist state you can live wherever? I don’t know, I’ve never understood the concept of communism real well. I flunked economics.

 

So apparently did the Soviets.

 

It's safe to say the 'Soviets' didn't understand communism, either!

 

sorry, but i'm still bothered that they didn't show the iconic ferris wheel in any shots of "pripyat". seems like a weird miss!

 

They did in the last episode near the end at 1:07:44 It's a distant shot and not a close up so I guess technically they got it in but probably not the shot you were thinking should've been in the series