I don't watch a lot of movies because I didn't have a lot of time. A lot of movies and television of late have become more niche oriented and horrible, and Cartoon Network isn't always on point. So, I watch a movie or two, or five, when I'm not writing, or reading, or playing video games, or sleep. You know, I guess I really don't watch a lot of movies or television. Go figure.
I'm not a big fan of horror, and the HBO mini-series Chernobyl is quite frankly watching a horror movie that happens in slow motion. And by that I mean that being aware that large parts of the story really happened to see just how close it all came to falling apart is a different kind of disheartening. There are scenes that I had to watch three or four times. There are scenes that on a second viewing I just avoided. There were times I yelled at the TV and others where all I could do was shake my head. There is an existential dread from watching the final episode and realizing that the professional managerial attitude of "just get it done" truly is universal, crossing language and cultures to hold sway even in the control room of a nuclear control plant.
The five episodes are artfully shot, showing a green verdant Ukraine in the mid-80s as the backdrop of this Soviet setting. It's odd that only now do I realize that I would have thought that an explosion of a nuclear reactor - which fired debris a mile straight up - would have been more destructive. True fact: After reactor 4 exploded, the other three reactors were kept up and running. For years. Next to an open still burning nuclear accident the other reactors kept running. The region needed the power provided and honestly couldn't afford to shut them down. After that terrible moment of explosion, shot from a distance almost offhandedly, the horror begins creeping in. Inside the facility is confusion and denial. Then comes the mis-information from an noble but uneducated viewpoint. And then from a deliberate standpoint shirking responsibility. Desperation and realization seep in. And then in what appears to be absolute madness - the crass believe what I am telling you not what you have actually seen standpoint.
The story moreover feels rooted in a sad kind of reality. The characters aren't bold and noble heroes, just people who are frequently hesitant and terrified to do what they know needs to be done, then doing it anyway. The small touches: the researchers in Kiev having to figure out there even is an issue, the reactions in meetings to the news getting out, the acknowledgement of what their own exposure will do to them as they press on, the Liquidators. Watching how these small pieces reacted was fascinating. Further, we see the system they had to work in was equally, quietly, just as terrifying. As one character put it "Our power comes from the perception of our power," and making it clear that revealing the full extent of the nuclear accident greatly dims that perception. And the focus on the immense value given that perception, both internal and external, to the detriment of the correction of the issue on such a grand scale makes it a compelling tale.
I'm aware certain parts were altered for to make the episodic story tool work. The accompanying podcast has the writer talk about what parts of the narrative are true and what parts they had to take dramatic license with is equally as fascinating. More, they discuss they parts they left out, the myths and why they made the decisions they made. True fact: Two of the three guys who went under the reactor to open the sluice gates are still alive. But the skill in the storytelling - in that I now mostly understand why the reactor exploded is amazing. I am not a nuclear physicist, but the scene where the character Legasov breaks down what occurred is just good writing.
When I got to the end, it was the realization of what had happened and how it's a situation that is all too mundane that made it all work. Chernobyl happened in essence because people "had to hit their numbers." That's it. A combination of things that happen in offices all over the world, in garages, in hot dog stands. That it happened in Soviet Russia, at a nuclear plant is just so ordinary. The plant managers falsified the safety check information when the plant was built to get their numbers and their bonus. The plant couldn't run the test during the day shift because the local economy had to hit their monthly numbers and couldn't afford a slowdown.
Those reasons sound all too familiar. And that's the really scary part.
I'm not a big fan of horror, and the HBO mini-series Chernobyl is quite frankly watching a horror movie that happens in slow motion. And by that I mean that being aware that large parts of the story really happened to see just how close it all came to falling apart is a different kind of disheartening. There are scenes that I had to watch three or four times. There are scenes that on a second viewing I just avoided. There were times I yelled at the TV and others where all I could do was shake my head. There is an existential dread from watching the final episode and realizing that the professional managerial attitude of "just get it done" truly is universal, crossing language and cultures to hold sway even in the control room of a nuclear control plant.
The five episodes are artfully shot, showing a green verdant Ukraine in the mid-80s as the backdrop of this Soviet setting. It's odd that only now do I realize that I would have thought that an explosion of a nuclear reactor - which fired debris a mile straight up - would have been more destructive. True fact: After reactor 4 exploded, the other three reactors were kept up and running. For years. Next to an open still burning nuclear accident the other reactors kept running. The region needed the power provided and honestly couldn't afford to shut them down. After that terrible moment of explosion, shot from a distance almost offhandedly, the horror begins creeping in. Inside the facility is confusion and denial. Then comes the mis-information from an noble but uneducated viewpoint. And then from a deliberate standpoint shirking responsibility. Desperation and realization seep in. And then in what appears to be absolute madness - the crass believe what I am telling you not what you have actually seen standpoint.
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| Chernobyl - HBO |
I'm aware certain parts were altered for to make the episodic story tool work. The accompanying podcast has the writer talk about what parts of the narrative are true and what parts they had to take dramatic license with is equally as fascinating. More, they discuss they parts they left out, the myths and why they made the decisions they made. True fact: Two of the three guys who went under the reactor to open the sluice gates are still alive. But the skill in the storytelling - in that I now mostly understand why the reactor exploded is amazing. I am not a nuclear physicist, but the scene where the character Legasov breaks down what occurred is just good writing.
When I got to the end, it was the realization of what had happened and how it's a situation that is all too mundane that made it all work. Chernobyl happened in essence because people "had to hit their numbers." That's it. A combination of things that happen in offices all over the world, in garages, in hot dog stands. That it happened in Soviet Russia, at a nuclear plant is just so ordinary. The plant managers falsified the safety check information when the plant was built to get their numbers and their bonus. The plant couldn't run the test during the day shift because the local economy had to hit their monthly numbers and couldn't afford a slowdown.
Those reasons sound all too familiar. And that's the really scary part.
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