Chernobyl Miniseries (2019)

[Pokemonquistador2]

Very emotional, I just wonder, is there a public source about radiation sickness and radioactive burns on the skin, cause I would like to know how realistic that depiction was. In terms of -say- Akimov and that Firefighter Wassili (the one who irradiates his wife), I assume it was pretty spot on, but the other firefighter that lifts a piece of graphite at the beginning might be a bit exaggerated. Then again, he was touching a piece of graphite just a few minutes after it was thrown out of the reactor, so god knows how many short-lived isotopes you'd still have on that, emitting insane levels of radiation.

The effects of radiation were exaggerated for the show. Not that the real life people the actors were portraying DIDN'T get horrific burns , it's just that those took about 1 to a few days to show up. (The firefighter who touched the graphite initally reported only numbness, but his condition certainly deteriorated as time went on. The people on the Bridge of Death did receive mild radiation burns, and many died later of cancer and leukemia, but as far as we know, they weren't thronging into the hospital with severe pain as they were portrayed as doing in the show. )

The reason the showrunners did this was as a shorthand way to show the audience how screwed the radiation poisoned people were. The real life plant workers themselves would have been able to see the real life subtle signs of early radiation poisoning and would have known their fates, but it's a hard thing to convey to an audience unversed in that kind of thing. Having a poisoned character's face turn red immediately after looking at the burning core lets us know how serious things are for them.

Also, the Red Forest around Chernobyl didn't turn red immediately. That took several weeks to occur. Radiation itself is invisible and hard to detect so the filmmakers had to take some liberties in portraying its effects. So that we'd get the message: this shit does bad things.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

As I understand it there probably should have been more swelling and less necrosis too. But that's a more disturbing look than even what we got so yeah.

Also some people seem to have taken the impression from the show that radiation is contagious? The reason the firefighters were a risk is because they inhaled so much radioactive ash that was still in their bodies. Not because they themselves were emitting radiation from hanging out at the site. The curtains for the other guys are for their protection, not the people caring for them. Radiation poisoning compromises your immune system. So can't really be too careful about germs.

 

[дядя Боря]

I know it's not going to happen, and if it ever did happen they'd mess it up, but this series really makes me want to see an adaptation of Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. The scene where the doggo liquidators were having a lunch of sausage, bread, and vodka filled me with nostalgia for that game.

If they ever make a STALKER series of similar quality I'm sure the first blowout/emission will be a bit of a mindfuck for people who watched Chernobyl first.

If you were into that game, Russian miniseries Chernobyl: Exclusion zone was actually pretty fun. This is SciFi, about a group of friends going to Chernobyl and encountering various weird shit, time travel and alternate realities. Really not bad.

Chernobyl: Zone of Exclusion - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

all episodes are available online free (legally)

in the season 2, because accident at Chernobyl was prevented (no thanks to KGB shooting RPGs) a nuclear reactor blows up in US, causing the downfall of America. Meanwhile Soviet Union prospers and turns into some fucking paradise. Those scenes alone were totally worth it.

and holy fuck, they are coming out with a sequel this October

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

If you were into that game, Russian miniseries Chernobyl: Exclusion zone was actually pretty fun. This is SciFi, about a group of friends going to Chernobyl and encountering various weird shit, time travel and alternate realities. Really not bad.

Chernobyl: Zone of Exclusion - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

all episodes are available online free (legally)

in the season 2, because accident at Chernobyl was prevented (no thanks to KGB shooting RPGs) a nuclear reactor blows up in US, causing the downfall of America. Meanwhile Soviet Union prospers and turns into some fucking paradise. Those scenes alone were totally worth it.

and holy fuck, they are coming out with a sequel this October

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mbJ4uf5zb20

So it's pure tankie porn?

 

[дядя Боря]

So it's pure tankie porn?

I am not familiar with that kind of porn, all I can afford is a bunch of AKs.

It's a kind of horor, mistery type shit shot in fairly authentic settings, roaming chernobyl woods in the dark, weird animals and time travel and who the fuck knows what else going on. Kind of like Stalker.

 

[millais]

I am not familiar with that kind of porn, all I can afford is a bunch of AKs.

It's a kind of horor, mistery type shit shot in fairly authentic settings, roaming chernobyl woods in the dark, weird animals and time travel and who the fuck knows what else going on. Kind of like Stalker.

"tankie" means Western leftists who support strong authoritarian rule, like those who approved the USSR's decision to shut down 1956 Budapest Uprising by sending in the Warsaw Pact tanks.

 

[Secret Asshole]

I watched the last two episodes after reading your critique, transformed my experience. Your post is one of the best things I have ever read on the internet. I would seriously love to watch a movie with you (no homo).

Thanks dude, I really appreciate it. Name a movie and I can do it. Shit, name any narrative and I probably could.

In a post-credit scene in Episode 4, the makers of the show actually refer to Khomyuk as a shakespearian representation of Legasov's conciousness, so you're 100% on your money.
Also, your other, long comment is a really well-written piece that highlights why Khomyuk is a great character. I was conflicted about her being an amalgam character, but I came to the same conclusion that it's very handy to condense down a shitton of people into one representation and they did give her a few very neat scenes and blended her in very well.

Oh shit, I didn't even realize. And thanks. Yeah, I think they did well with her. People are so sensitive to wokeness nowadays its really fucked with story-telling in such a sad way.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Thanks dude, I really appreciate it. Name a movie and I can do it. Shit, name any narrative and I probably could.



Oh shit, I didn't even realize. And thanks. Yeah, I think they did well with her. People are so sensitive to wokeness nowadays its really fucked with story-telling in such a sad way.

Wokeness provokes reactionary thought processes. They're their own worst enemy.

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

Wokeness provokes reactionary thought processes. They're their own worst enemy.

I don't know what's worse, the fact that that well is now so thoroughly poisoned, or the fact that they didn't do it on purpose, they're just that exceptional.

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

I don't know what's worse, the fact that that well is now so thoroughly poisoned, or the fact that they didn't do it on purpose, they're just that exceptional.

Oh no it's easy. The worst thing the modern left has done is make being a fascist cool again.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Oh no it's easy. The worst thing the modern left has done is make being a fascist cool again.

What can you expect when the Left actively made anything not-them fascist as well as underlining how impotent and powerless they are to overcome the fascists who seem to run everything at any time without interference.
Part of the appeal of SJWdom is to be the vanguard of a scrappy little underdog "resistance" to a massively powerful, immense cabal of bigots to highlight their own purity and specialness, downside is that literally everything that doesn't go their way is instantly blamed on these fascist bigots and their shenanigans. Not enough female or black firefighters? Surely that can only mean Firefighters are racist now.
This, of course, leads to a huge amount of people mislabeled as Nazis (such as firefighters) for dumb reasons and they strike back.

And then we come to a character like Khomyuk, who's a well-made amalgamation, necessary for the ease of watching that also serves an important function as a metaphor and representation (ie: Legasov's conciousness). Problem is: We as audience have seen this so many times, a female character being put into a movie for stupid reasons, that we assume Khomyuk is the same, even though she isn't. And frankly, if they made her female to avoid this movie being a complete sausage-fest, that's absolutely fine and justified. It's just that so many other characters, poorly written ones at that, ruined it for the actually well-written ones. You almost can't have a competent female character without fearing that the boogeyman of hypocritical hollywood sex pests raised their ugly heads to lecture you on some modern ideology mumbo-jumbo about GRRRL PWR. FemThor, FemIron Man, Squirrel Girl, Rey, the list goes on and on. Of course people are weary.

It's a shame we can't watch a great show about a giant desaster without being reminded of current year politics, even when it's not even present.

 

[Judge Holden]

After having watched several different docu-drama adaptations of the "Chernobyl story" over the years, I decided to begin watching this series after recieving multiple recommendations.

Episode 1 was pretty good. Personally I would have preferred a bit more of a build up before everything went bananas, and the "Bridge of Death" scene has me a lil worried that this shit is gonna be sensationalised, but so far im loving the cinematography and bleakness of everything, even if the political stuff is a little hammy and heavy handed for my tastes.

The REAL test for the series for me will be if they do the narratively satisfying yet inaccurate and lazy "the volunteers who drained the built up water under the reactor saved the world from becoming a nuclear wasteland and sacrificed their lives" story, or whether they break convention and actually point out the guys who did this decidedly did not die in the attempt but lived for decades afterwards and that chernobyl was never going to turn into some continent-poisoning apocalypse.

I hope they go with reality but I fear the temptation for melodrama and sensationalism were too much for the writers...

EDIT: Ok halfway through episode 2 and they just pulled the "IF WE DONT DO SOMETHING THE WHOLE CONTINENT WILL DIE!" schtick. Great. There goes my mild optimism that this wont be just another sensationalised fiction

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

After having watched several different docu-drama adaptations of the "Chernobyl story" over the years, I decided to begin watching this series after recieving multiple recommendations.

Episode 1 was pretty good. Personally I would have preferred a bit more of a build up before everything went bananas, and the "Bridge of Death" scene has me a lil worried that this shit is gonna be sensationalised, but so far im loving the cinematography and bleakness of everything, even if the political stuff is a little hammy and heavy handed for my tastes.

The REAL test for the series for me will be if they do the narratively satisfying yet inaccurate and lazy "the volunteers who drained the built up water under the reactor saved the world from becoming a nuclear wasteland and sacrificed their lives" story, or whether they break convention and actually point out the guys who did this decidedly did not die in the attempt but lived for decades afterwards and that chernobyl was never going to turn into some continent-poisoning apocalypse.

I hope they go with reality but I fear the temptation for melodrama and sensationalism were too much for the writers...

EDIT: Ok halfway through episode 2 and they just pulled the "IF WE DONT DO SOMETHING THE WHOLE CONTINENT WILL DIE!" schtick. Great. There goes my mild optimism that this wont be just another sensationalised fiction

Give it some more time.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

EDIT: Ok halfway through episode 2 and they just pulled the "IF WE DONT DO SOMETHING THE WHOLE CONTINENT WILL DIE!" schtick. Great. There goes my mild optimism that this wont be just another sensationalised fiction

Though admittedly, it's nowhere near what you said:

They say that it will have severe consequences for Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarussia, Poland, Chekoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and East germany. The consequences, Legasov says, will be a disruption of the food and water supply and a drastic increase of cancer rates (which, given the results of such massive fallout, is more than justified, every RBMK-1000 reactor contains 192tons of fuel and a supposed steam explosion would rupture the other 3 reactor cores).
They only mention it would kill the population in Kiev (90km away from Pripyat) and parts of Minsk (340km from Pripyat) and make Ukraine and Belarussia uninhabitable, they don't say "Half of Europe will die instantly".

I don't know how much consensus there is nowadays amongst scientists whether this was an actual threat or not, but the point is whether the Soviet Union had this fear or not. They seem to have at least been afraid enough to send 3 guys down there to open the valves (the show mentions that they survived at the end, btw).

 

[Judge Holden]

Though admittedly, it's nowhere near what you said:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=IRZrUrAl-98:106
They say that it will have severe consequences for Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarussia, Poland, Chekoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and East germany. The consequences, Legasov says, will be a disruption of the food and water supply and a drastic increase of cancer rates (which, given the results of such massive fallout, is more than justified, every RBMK-1000 reactor contains 192tons of fuel and a supposed steam explosion would rupture the other 3 reactor cores).
They only mention it would kill the population in Kiev (90km away from Pripyat) and parts of Minsk (340km from Pripyat) and make Ukraine and Belarussia uninhabitable, they don't say "Half of Europe will die instantly".

I don't know how much consensus there is nowadays amongst scientists whether this was an actual threat or not, but the point is whether the Soviet Union had this fear or not. They seem to have at least been afraid enough to send 3 guys down there to open the valves (the show mentions that they survived at the end, btw).

Au contraire, Legassof says near the 30 minute mark of episode 2 when hes outside the plant that "the continent will die" almost verbatim. Admittedly they dialed it back a bit in the committee scene afterwards as you say, but they still led with the sensationalist side of things

Also just started episode 3 and am somewhat glad they showed the divers staying alive thus far

EDIT: just checked and the exact quote used in the episode is "[the reactor] will burn and spread its poison until the entire continent is dead!"

 

[Pokemonquistador2]

Au contraire, Legassof says near the 30 minute mark of episode 2 when hes outside the plant that "the continent will die" almost verbatim. Admittedly they dialed it back a bit in the committee scene afterwards as you say, but they still led with the sensationalist side of things

Also just started episode 3 and am somewhat glad they showed the divers staying alive thus far

EDIT: just checked and the exact quote used in the episode is "[the reactor] will burn and spread its poison until the entire continent is dead!"

Eh. I'm willing to give the show a pass on that since Legasov is trying desperately to drive the point into the bureaucrats' thick skull that "This is serious and someone had better do something about it, dammit!" Remember how the number 3.6 roentgens gets thrown around and Legasov is the only character who thinks it's ample grounds for evacuating the city. Everyone else thinks it's "Not great, but not terrible..."

"And then we come to a character like Khomyuk, who's a well-made amalgamation, necessary for the ease of watching that also serves an important function as a metaphor and representation (ie: Legasov's conciousness). Problem is: We as audience have seen this so many times, a female character being put into a movie for stupid reasons, that we assume Khomyuk is the same, even though she isn't. And frankly, if they made her female to avoid this movie being a complete sausage-fest, that's absolutely fine and justified. It's just that so many other characters, poorly written ones at that, ruined it for the actually well-written ones. You almost can't have a competent female character without fearing that the boogeyman of hypocritical hollywood sex pests raised their ugly heads to lecture you on some modern ideology mumbo-jumbo about GRRRL PWR. FemThor, FemIron Man, Squirrel Girl, Rey, the list goes on and on. Of course people are weary."

This is what ruined the anime movie "Perfect Blue" for me. It's a well constructed film, full of tension and mindfuckery, a horrifying indictment of Japan's idol system and how a young woman has to choose between having her career stall, and having to make films with adult content that she's not comfortable with. And the guilt she feels as a result, causing her personality to split apart. It's something that women viewers can really relate to (with varying levels of severity.)

But then every pudgy, punchably-faced male feminist anime reviewer has to post a long winded essay about how the film is all about "MALE GAZE! MADONNA VS WHORE!!! SLUTSHAMING! BELIEEV WAHMEN GUYZ!!!!! ALL MEN ARE RAPISTS!!!!!111" As if the movie were a round condemnation of all media aimed at men everywhere, and not mainly focused on the extremely fucked up Idol singer system in 80's era Japan (and the extremely fucked up, possessive fans who were encouraged as a result of its excesses. And the extremely fucked up women who were discarded by the system once it had finished with them. ) I just get a weird creepy vibe from these anime reviewer guys, as if they believe that talking about "Perfect Blue" will finally convince the dangerhairs in their social circles to give them a chance because "I'm one of the GOOD ones! I'm an ALLY!"

 

[Commander X]

 

[Your Weird Fetish]

Cheeki breeki.

 

[millais]

C.H.E.R.N.O.B.Y.L

not great not terrible

www.youtube.com

 

[mindlessobserver]

I watched the entire series over the span of 2 days. Had nightmares night 1. Went back to it thinking that this entire show was one of the greatest horror series ever put to film. Finished watching it and spent a day thinking about. Then listened to the NPR podcast where they talk with the showrunner.

Its my opinion that this show is as perfect as a historical drama can be. And by perfect I mean in all aspects. Writing. Directing. Acting. Music. Set design. Special effects. Costumes. Makeup (which I guess includes costumes) and most importantly the most elusive thing in art. Purpose. The reason for the art to exist in the first place. In this case its a meditation on the concepts of truth and lies. Powerful stuff that handled improperly could blow up in the producers face. Much like an open nuclear reactor. But in this case they bottled the lightening. Or the nuclear fire if you prefer.

Where to even start. For one the writers made the wise decision to not play coy with us. Everyone who watches this will know that Chernobyl explodes. There was no point in building dramatic tension leading up to the explosion. The decision for episode 1 to go right into post disaster was wise. Craig Mazin's experience in writing for horror flicks definitely served him well in this case. He does an amazing job of building the dread of the situation. There is no cliche in this. When you scream at your TV "DONT OPEN THE DOOR!" its not the same as every other time you do it. Because you know that this time its real. That the charachters were real people, and when they look into the open maw of hell they are gazing into an abyss that exists right now. And the show does not mince words about that. In fact it does not explain it at all. It simply shows you. Through the set design of the shattered corridors, to the CGI of the burning reactor core and the makeup artists representations of human flesh exposed to an open nuclear core.

And it just goes from there. Every scene serves a purpose, and even the extras are capable in moments of achieving immediate emotional connection with the audience. When those men go out onto the roof to clear the graphite you don't know who they are. They don't even have lines. But you care. The show has set up the plot perfectly. You know exactly what they are doing, why they are doing it, and why it is such a stupendous act of heroism and self sacrifice.

One of the greatest achievements of this show is that it does not assume the audience is stupid, which is a common trap many historical dramas and scientific dramas fall into. The use of Scherbina as the stand in for the Audience was brilliant. "Explain to me how a nuclear reactor works". "15,000 roetgens". "What do these numbers mean?" In many respects by episode 5 when Scherbina is explaining at the trial "how the reactor works" its poignant because we have been along for the ride with him. The evolution of the main characters over time is punctuated by the series of sub plots that are stand ins for the horror they have to deal with in trying to contain this disaster. The Firefighter, his wife, the liquidator sent out with the Afghan War veterans to kill the animals. All of which done against a backdrop brilliantly and artistically created by the set designers, prop departments and costume designers that never for once make mistakes that take you out of the story.

And through it all it never loses track of the theme. What is the price of the Truth? What is the Cost of Lies? The show wrestles with this fundamentally because it does not pretend that the Truth is a panacea. Lies caused the disaster yes, but lies were needed to put a stop to it too. They had to lie to thousands of people in order to get them to go out onto that roof and throw pieces of irradiated graphite back into an open reactor core as an example. But the true heroism was also showed when the people who saw through the lies to the truth, that they were dead men, and did their duty anyway? Now that was some hard stuff. Because there was another truth behind it all. If they didn't do what they needed to do, the calamity would be so much worse.

This is a classic. And not in the "classic movie" sense. This show and its attached screenplay is a triumph of western civilization, and deserves to be placed in anthologies alongside the Iliad, Hamlet and the Brothers Karamazov. And considering the ethnicities of the writer and the director, is (arguably, but I will say it) greatest piece of cinematography ever produced by America and Sweden. I am sure some will disagree, but I will fight you!