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Chernobyl

Had the same thing happened in the uk at the same time, I wonder how we’d have dealt with it? I wonder how we’d deal with it today?
 
Recorded the series and started to watch it last night, the scene where people are out watching or playing and the ash is falling like snowflakes around them reminded me of the scene in Schindler's list where ash is falling from burning bodies.

Gave the same feeling, death was in the air.

A gripping and very scary first episode, will look forward to watching the rest without the week interval between episodes.

John
 
Eyebroughty said:
Recorded the series and started to watch it last night, the scene where people are out watching or playing and the ash is falling like snowflakes around them reminded me of the scene in Schindler's list where ash is falling from burning bodies.

Gave the same feeling, death was in the air.

A gripping and very scary first episode, will look forward to watching the rest without the week interval between episodes.

John
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That is referenced in the closing credits of the final episode....
 
Hopefully we will be watching the final episode tonight. First thing that springs to mind is how incredibly brave some people are. There were some serious heroes involved in that.
 
this episode of horizon was VERY eye opening for me ... it's actually fascinating what myths persist about radiation - some realistic, some not ...

what was most fascinating was learning that we actually have genes that protect us from radiation that can be exploited to some degree. they are turned 'on' in the presence of radiation and they expedite round-the-clock cell replication repairs

 
yurivv said:
I've only watched two episodes so far. This is a high-quality show, one of the best TV shows I watched. I think the very high rating of the series is quite justified.

Unfortunately, there are some flaws jarring to the eye and ear, which reduce the authenticity. Considering that unlike all the American movies I’ve watched this one shows everyday life in the USSR quite accurately, this can be pretty annoying. But for the Western people all this is irrelevant.
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I understand the 'to the ear' bit (with some of the more pronounced English Accents, they didn't do that pseudo Russian tongue used in most era films. I actually appreciate that and perhaps better short of using a full Russian cast with subtitles) but what were the jarring inconsistencies to the eye?
 
At first I thought it an odd decision for the accents but that disappeared very quickly and in fact began to feel like a genius decision. I don't know why, can't really put my finger on it but it really worked. Even Finchy from The Office kept his accent....
 
yurivv said:
It's very strange to use an entertaining show filmed by the Americans as a confirmation of your opinion on the "bloody mindedness of the Ruskies".
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The problem is a lot of American movies have been like that. Rocky 4, Firefox etc. It's always the American hero against the nasty Russians.
 
scotty38 said:
At first I thought it an odd decision for the accents but that disappeared very quickly and in fact began to feel like a genius decision. I don't know why, can't really put my finger on it but it really worked. Even Finchy from The Office kept his accent....
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I read a quote from the Director along the lines of wanting the best from the cast, without the distraction of having to do the accents. I also agree it was a good move, despite my post number 3 in this thread.
 
drummerman said:
I understand the 'to the ear' bit (with some of the more pronounced English Accents, they didn't do that pseudo Russian tongue used in most era films. I actually appreciate that and perhaps better short of using a full Russian cast with subtitles) but what were the jarring inconsistencies to the eye?
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Actually, speaking of ears, I didn't mean a strange accent, as I watched a TV series with a Russian dubbing (I considered it logical in this case). It is about the fact that the characters call each other not in the way that the Russians called each other in reality. For example, in families, a husband and wife never call each other by full form of name, it's way too formal! In Russian there are quite a few forms of name for the close people: smaller form, friendly form, diminutive and so on. When a person introduce himself to someone, today it’s normal to call yourself by name + surname, but not in 1986. In USSR era in the official case we used full form i.e. surname and then name + patronymic, or name + patronymic or the surname only.
In addition, the series clearly abuses the word "tovarishch" (comrade) when referring to a particular person. Well, it's normal if we are talking about the Politburo meeting, when Gorbachev calls someone "comrade Ivanov", but never “comrade” without a corresponding surname, if the surname is known. Generally speaking the word "comrades" was used in plural form when addressing a group of people. More often in real life people in the USSR called each other by name + patronymic, if it was a matter of official situation. I apologize for the lecture, I tried to convey the nuances of communication only in the most general terms. These mistakes of course mean nothing for Western people, but for me they clearly show the foreign origin of the series.

Now for the eyes. The authors of the series tried to create an authentic environment, and this was generally successful. But again, not without annoying missteps. The apartments of a young firefighter family from Belarus and an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow look essentially the same, which is simply unbelievable, given the enormous difference in social status and income. Schoolgirls go to school in dress uniform. On April 26, there is absolutely no reason to wear a white apron. The apron must be black.

Now to the plot. People with the children at 3 a.m., dressed as if it was 3 p.m., stand on the bridge and admire the fire. Imagine the situation: an explosion at a nuclear power plant, a fire, and then the ashes of unknown origin fall at you from the sky. And you are completely calm about it. Really? At a meeting in the bunker some gray-haired elder says utter nonsense, and everyone explodes with applause. Come on, it just plain silly! It was so unnatural that I laughed. If this elder is in charge, then why doesn’t he start and lead the meeting? Why is he sitting by the door? If he is not in charge, then what is he doing here, and why doesn’t he nurse his grandchildren at home? In the helicopter Shcherbina threatens the academician to throw him overboard if he does not tell him how the atomic reactor works. Are you serious? To kill the academician approved by General Secretary himself? Even the thought could not come to his head.

I understand that some of these scenes were introduced to dramatize the situation, but still, in the end, this creates a wrong impression on the viewer (primarily unfamiliar with the way of life in the USSR in 1986), bringing a sense of strangeness to the plot. But in general, what is shown in two episodes done quite decently.

P.S. And a few words about vodka. I understand that vodka can not be avoided in any movie about the USSR. Every Russian always drinks vodka. This is the law. But I wanted to thank the authors of the series that they did it without a bear and a balalaika (so far in two episodes I watched).
 
yurivv said:
It's very strange to use an entertaining show filmed by the Americans as a confirmation of your opinion on the "bloody mindedness of the Ruskies".
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It would have been much better if the show had been made by Russians (or Ukrainians), but unfortunately with Putin in charge it's hard to imagine it would be more realistic than HBO. I always like foreign subtitled dramas for their different point of view (e.g. Fauda).

Not having HBO I have to wait until Chernobyl reaches Netflix or Prime :-(
 
sean99 said:
It would have been much better if the show had been made by Russians (or Ukrainians), but unfortunately with Putin in charge it's hard to imagine it would be more realistic than HBO. I always like foreign subtitled dramas for their different point of view (e.g. Fauda).

Not having HBO I have to wait until Chernobyl reaches Netflix or Prime :-(
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Apparently the Russians are planning to do their own version
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/06/04/putins-media-struggle-to-deal-with-hbos-chernobyl-a65866

"Still, an attempt will be made to put an entirely different spin on those events. Russia’s NTV channel has already announced that it is shooting its own “Chernobyl” series based on the premise that the CIA sent an agent to the Chernobyl zone to carry out acts of sabotage."
 
yurivv said:
Actually, speaking of ears, I didn't mean a strange accent, as I watched a TV series with a Russian dubbing (I considered it logical in this case). It is about the fact that the characters call each other not in the way that the Russians called each other in reality. For example, in families, a husband and wife never call each other by full form of name, it's way too formal! In Russian there are quite a few forms of name for the close people: smaller form, friendly form, diminutive and so on. When a person introduce himself to someone, today it’s normal to call yourself by name + surname, but not in 1986. In USSR era in the official case we used full form i.e. surname and then name + patronymic, or name + patronymic or the surname only.
In addition, the series clearly abuses the word "tovarishch" (comrade) when referring to a particular person. Well, it's normal if we are talking about the Politburo meeting, when Gorbachev calls someone "comrade Ivanov", but never “comrade” without a corresponding surname, if the surname is known. Generally speaking the word "comrades" was used in plural form when addressing a group of people. More often in real life people in the USSR called each other by name + patronymic, if it was a matter of official situation. I apologize for the lecture, I tried to convey the nuances of communication only in the most general terms. These mistakes of course mean nothing for Western people, but for me they clearly show the foreign origin of the series.

Now for the eyes. The authors of the series tried to create an authentic environment, and this was generally successful. But again, not without annoying missteps. The apartments of a young firefighter family from Belarus and an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow look essentially the same, which is simply unbelievable, given the enormous difference in social status and income. Schoolgirls go to school in dress uniform. On April 26, there is absolutely no reason to wear a white apron. The apron must be black.

Now to the plot. People with the children at 3 a.m., dressed as if it was 3 p.m., stand on the bridge and admire the fire. Imagine the situation: an explosion at a nuclear power plant, a fire, and then the ashes of unknown origin fall at you from the sky. And you are completely calm about it. Really? At a meeting in the bunker some gray-haired elder says utter nonsense, and everyone explodes with applause. Come on, it just plain silly! It was so unnatural that I laughed. If this elder is in charge, then why doesn’t he start and lead the meeting? Why is he sitting by the door? If he is not in charge, then what is he doing here, and why doesn’t he nurse his grandchildren at home? In the helicopter Shcherbina threatens the academician to throw him overboard if he does not tell him how the atomic reactor works. Are you serious? To kill the academician approved by General Secretary himself? Even the thought could not come to his head.

I understand that some of these scenes were introduced to dramatize the situation, but still, in the end, this creates a wrong impression on the viewer (primarily unfamiliar with the way of life in the USSR in 1986), bringing a sense of strangeness to the plot. But in general, what is shown in two episodes done quite decently.

P.S. And a few words about vodka. I understand that vodka can not be avoided in any movie about the USSR. Every Russian always drinks vodka. This is the law. But I wanted to thank the authors of the series that they did it without a bear and a balalaika (so far in two episodes I watched).
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Good explanation and you'd have to be Russian to know. I personally would put these (small) inconsistencies and deviations from real Russian life at that time down to dramatisation as you pointed out too and even knowing what you just told me they dont really take away from the powerful portrayal of the situation, at least not for me. Especially not considering just how much they potentially could have gotten wrong and considering it was not done by the Russians.

The research that went into thisproduction, inconsistencies aside, must have been considerable.

Thanks for your information.
 
DavidY80 said:
I've just come back from doing a two day Chernobyl and Pripyat tour, which we booked long before this series, but I'm sure it'll become even more popular now.

This is a picture....
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Wow, what an experience - would love to see more images if your willing to share please.
 
Just signed up and watched the first two episodes. Very, very good so far! Yurivv’s comments upthread are interesting and also help give a little context. I’ve no idea how truthful or realistic the portrayal of events is, but the look and feel is great. The rather odd droney music/ambience is pretty good too!
 
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