Chernobyl

One of the worst man-made catastrophes… Who are the people behind it?

Name: Chernobyl

Director: Johan Renck

Country: United Kingdom, United States of America

Year: 2019

Status: Completed

Episodes: 5 (Mini-series)

Genre: Drama, Historical

Sinopsis:

In April 1986, an explosion took place at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in the USSR, becoming one of the worst man-made catastrophes in the World. The series follows scientist Valery Legasov, physicist Ulana Khomyuk and the vice-president of the Council of Ministers, Boris Shcherbina, while they try to uncover the causes of the accident.

Review

Chernobyl was definitely a big surprise for me, since I am not a huge fan of films or series with an historical thread. But throughout the episodes, I was caught off guard by the unknown facts behind this enormous catastrophe.

The series starts off with the suicide of scientist Valery Legasov and then takes a two-year retreat to the dawn of 26 April 1986. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is chaotic and its employees are desperately trying to figure out what is going on and what to do, while firefighters are the first to arrive on the scene and quickly realize that this is not a simple roof fire.

We noticed two things straight away: first, there is a lot of nervousness on the part of employees who are desperately trying to figure out what went wrong with the test to find a way to control the fire, while Anatoly Diatlov, the chief engineer and test supervisor of reactor No.4, was in constant denial of the seriousness of the accident that had just occurred; second, when the accident is reported to the director of the Nuclear Power Plant and members of the committee, they will do everything in their power to stifle what happened, even though they are putting the lives of thousands of people at risk.

Unfortunately for them, scientist Valery Legasov is called by the Soviet government to an emergency meeting about the Chernobyl fire because he is an expert in nuclear energy. Through the incident reports he finds out what they were covering up and reveals that if nothing is done, it would not only be the surrounding inhabitants who would be at risk from radiation, but the entire population of the Soviet Union and the surrounding countries.

Valery Legasov goes to the scene accompanied by Boris Shcherbina, the vice president of the Council of Ministers, as he is still not convinced of the seriousness of the accident and believes the words of the directors of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, but quickly realizes that he is wrong.

In my opinion this is a key character in the unfolding of the story because he will be the main engine to manage this disaster and through his expertise and being used to dealing with "politics", he will be the one who manages to arrange everything the scientist needs to do damage control. At the same time, for me he represented the government of the Soviet Union itself, and how fragile it was.

Another character that we must highlight is the scientist Ulana Khomyuk, who despite being fictional and not having actually existed, represents all the other scientists who came together to help solve this catastrophe.

Throughout the episodes we are involved by the stories of the characters that are presented to us and who are people who were involved with the explosion or who suffered sequelae from it, as well as we pay attention to all the details in order to also try to unravel the mysteries that led to it occurring the accident.

The success of this work is due to presenting a version of this catastrophe never spoken before, as well as the way the action is involved in the mystery of unraveling what happened on the fateful night, leaving viewers stuck to the screen until the last episode.

Finally, another aspect that I have to emphasize is the quality of execution of this series, from the assertiveness in the choice of shots, to the technical execution, to the excellent direction of photography and acting of the actors. It made each episode feel like a mini-movie. Putting all these aspects together made this series so pleasant to watch, even though it portrays a true and intense story.

Whisper of the Heart

Because this series is based on true facts, throughout the episodes we find ourselves in constant moral debate with the situations that are being exposed and we put ourselves in the shoes of the characters: "What would I do?"

But there is something different, no matter which answer we find, since what happens in the story is what happened in real life, whether we are for it or against it, whether it's a good or bad attitude.

There are countless moments when this moral debate takes place, where the characters are forced to make a decision that goes against the morally correct, but due to the catastrophe that devastated Chernobyl they are forced to follow without questioning. I decided to highlight two moments that especially touched me.

Due to the lack of military personnel, ordinary citizens were called to serve in the army of the Soviet Union at the site of the explosion exposed to radiation. They had to perform the most varied tasks, but there was one that struck me: it consisted of exterminating all the animals in the area because they were contaminated. I don't think I was the only one, but I don't know how to explain the inner revolt I felt when I saw the amount of helpless animals that were killed.

The second moment that left me dumbfounded is related to the miners who worked in the tunnel excavation, from the conditions in which they did it, to their altruistic attitude in accepting that job even though they knew they were putting their health at risk.

After its debut Chernobyl was highly acclaimed by critics and even by the Russian Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky, whose father was one of the people called on to help minimize the damage caused by the catastrophe. But while some felt that the series was filmed with great respect for people and victims, there were also those who pointed out several mistakes and exaggerations that were used for dramatic purposes.

Despite being based on true facts, we cannot forget that this is a fictional work, so it is normal that not everything corresponds 100% with reality. But with no doubt I advise everyone to watch this series.

I chose this series to be part of the Ecletic Heart 30 Post Challenge under the theme “a series based on a true story”, as it is a historic event in our world and will continue to be studied by everyone for many years to come.

Rating - 🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉 (9)