Chernobyl HBO Miniseries

Bio-robots. When the soldiers were sent to the roof with the scoop shovels. "You've got 90 seconds to clear as much debris from the roof as you can. When I beat on the pipe run back. Don't look over the edge." That was chilling.

 

Similar to the radioactivity ‘ratings’ measured with instruments with undisclosed upper limits - While an ‘approximated production’ of this history didn’t need to be made; it was. And it was well done...sizzzle...

 

I am a subscriber to the English-language newsletter “The Real Russia” of Russian on-line newspaper Meduza.
Over the last couple of weeks there have been interesting articles about “Chernobyl” comparing the characters of the series to their real-life counterparts and offering opinions on how Russian newspapers are reporting on the series. I thought this could be interesting here. There are some links for further reading and videos but many are in Russian. Meduza does the job of translating, summarizing and analyzing articles for those of us (like myself) who don’t speak Russian.

The real Chernobyl HBO’s hit miniseries is ending, and here’s how its characters compare to their real-life counterparts — Meduza
At the end of the article you can find links to the previous ones.

In yesterday’s newsletter there was a summary of an editorial for Komsomolskaya Pravda where a correspondent criticizes the show for being “American propaganda”. A colleague of his who also writes about the show argues that "“Chernobyl” is part of a media campaign to undermine faith in Russian nuclear power."
The Real Russia. Today. The real-life characters of HBO's ‘Chernobyl’ miniseries, body-slamming a journalist in Khakassia, and pondering rumors about Surkov's ouster — Meduza

At least there is some criticism that Russian filmmakers failed "to produce their own quality content about the Chernobyl disaster".

 

"Do you even know what 'robot' means?" (@0:15)

 

That’s eerily similar language to the mindset of secrecy and corruption that led to the disaster in the first place. It’s unsettling when you realize there are still ten RBMK reactors online and active right now.

 

Yes, that’s true, the rhetotic reminds me of cold war times. There are still a lot of people yearning for the "good old times" of the Soviet Union. We have quite a few of those longing for the GDR in Eastern Germany as well. It is a complicated issue and many people from the formerly communist states are voting for right-wing populists.

 

I just watched the first episode of a 2004 series called Zero Hour. Each episode details the last hour before a tragedy occurred. The first episode was Chernobyl. They did a remarkable job of recreating everything, interviewing survivors, using archive film, and especially in describing in detail how the reactor exploded using some computer animation. Recommended for those who want a bit more Chernobyl fix. Most incredibly, to me, was that they mentioned that this was filmed on location, in Unit 3. What?? So, I researched a little and Unit 3 was the last part to be shut down in 2000. Apparently people still worked there even 14 years later(!) I found one source online that said workers had to be transported in and out with military transport and could only work there for a few weeks at a time. And yet, the people making Zero Hour still thought, "Hey, we should try to film there." Seems crazy to me. Anyway, pretty good program.

As for the HBO series, can't wait for last episode and agree with all that it's been excellent throughout.

 

Here is a girl that is eating an apple from a tree a few miles from the reactor.

 

Yep. Reactors 1,2, & 3 were kept active for years after 4 blew up. Mind boggling.

 

Bravo! I just started this on Monday and wound up watching up until the current episode today. I grew up with a Uranium Enrichment Plant down the road from me. In fact, my subdivision was built explicitly for potential workers there to jump on the highway but live within walking distance to a downtown with schools and parks. I am also a history teacher, so period pieces like this interest me. It took me a few episodes to get Captain Crozier out of my mind but Jared Harris is just amazing. As much as this is nearly a "horror" piece with two antagonists (the nuclear power and the bureacracy) it's also an interesting look at 1980's Russia for us westerners.

 

I liked how Pavel first arrived looking fresh and innocent; by the end of the episode his face was hardened as if he'd aged 20 years.

 

Yay! Its coming out on physical in the UK on July 8th

Aim Publicity on Twitter

On.
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DVD

No plans for Blu-Ray



Maybe they could queue up a Betamax release as well

 

Tarkovsky did. It’s just that he did it before the disaster occurred.

 

I've seen a few of his films but I never got around to seeing "Stalker". Thanks for the reminder! ;-)

It was a quote of the author of the aforementioned editorial, so I guess they were rather talking about it in a literal sense meaning a series or movie about the accident and the aftermath.
I did not check if there's anything out there already.

There has been a new interesting article about a journalist who discovers that his stepfather worked as a liquidator at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant:
‘I was there, and I don’t want to watch this anymore’ A journalist in Baltimore shows HBO's ‘Chernobyl’ to his stepfather and discovers that he was part of the USSR's military cleanup — Meduza

 

Brutal. We were all in tears by the end.

 

That was.....whew..that was heavy.....

 

What an absolute wonderful series.
A must see if you haven’t already.

 

Wow, what a chilling finale. This is easily one of the best mini-series I've ever seen.

 

Well the RT (which I assume means the Russian Times?) had a review that attacked the authenticity of the program around the environment of a Totalitarian state. I think the criticisms are minor and petty myself. As a docudrama, this did a great job of portraying what happened.

Geat, great series. I think the criticism comes from the fact that it was done by an international staff that wasn’t Russian.

 

That’s sad. I’d watch this again as powerful and dark s it is because, damn, it’s great drama but I would at least want to watch it on BD to appreciate the great work in the series.

 

Rightly praised, this has been a stellar series. Jared Harris was brilliant and just one of many fine actors.

The score was extremely effective in creating tension, and I must admit that the combination of score and the incredibly realistic depiction of radiation burns and poisoning was very unnerving. What a terrible way to die.

I wondered many times why someone would be allowed to suffer for so long in a hellish condition.

 

There is another summarized translation of a Russian article focusing on the critic’s perception and how they come to form their opinion. It is very interesting:

“Arkhangelsky [the journalist who wrote the article] starts by arguing that the show’s patriotic critics in Russia are right to fear it, insofar as “Chernobyl” threatens the “cocoon” that has enveloped most Russians and subverted their “consciousness.” He says contemporary Russian television and cinema have cultivated the notion of a “heavenly” USSR that has many redeeming qualities. The great sin here, Arkhangelsky argues, is that the Russian media has turned Soviet tragedy into entertainment, instead of using its “therapeutic power” to “heal wounds.” He thinks the focus on entertainment has taught people “to live at half-strength,” robbing the public of its ability to feel empathy.

So what’s so special about HBO’s miniseries? Arkhangelsky says it’s the fact that the show depicts Soviet individuals performing acts of heroism despite the Soviet system, in effect compensating for its inhumanity and rising above the regime’s ideology. This transforms the Soviet person into someone ordinary, finding universal motives for the characters and telling viewers that everything depends on individuals, even in totalitarian systems. In other words, “Chernobyl” highlights the tragedy of Soviet daily life, where everyone was a potential victim, and thereby manages to reconcile with Russia’s past in a way that Russian entertainment cannot."

You can read the whole piece here:
The Real Russia. Today. A love story set after the Leningrad siege, Russia wants Tinder to share user data, and a media exec wins a defamation case against a woman who says he raped her — Meduza

I guess there will be a few more articles in the coming days.

I think a television series being able to spark so many great debates speaks volumes of the quality it has to offer.

 

I said the same thing to my wife; surely someone knowing what they faced would allow s9meone to give themselves an overdose of morphine before their veins collapse or better yet leave a gun.

 

Given the number of people involved in these operations, possibly there wasn't that many protective gear available. BTW Gorbachev wrote in one of his books that dealing with the outcome of the Chernobyl disaster was so expensive and exhausted so many resources, that greatly affected the economy and contributed to the decision USSR to get rid of the East European "brother" countries (because they were more a burden than contributors, economically), and finally led to the final collapse of the USSR itself.

 

Just a great little mini series, Jared Harris was just excellent I’m a big fan of his ever since MadMen

But oy vey, what a mess. We are fortunate some brave Russians stood up against the entrenched stupid rigidity of the Commie State. I had no idea about some of the possible disastrous possibilities that were averted.