Chernobyl

After reading Midnight In Chernobyl, I was keen on seeing the HBO miniseries Chernobyl, which tells the same story, that is the nuclear accident at the power plant in what is today the Ukraine in April 1986. And while the true story was fresh in my mind, of course any film version would take some liberties and change a few things, but the essence is there--the Soviet Union tried to cover up what had really happened, and that a design flaw in the RBMK reactor was the primary reason for the disaster.

The focus in the miniseries is on a handful of characters. Valery Legasov, played by Jared Harris, is the hero, a unclear physicist who becomes the truth-teller of the piece. When the accident happens, he is brought in and recognizes the immediate danger, clashing with a party official, Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgard), who urges caution. Eventutally, Skarsgard comes around and the two men form a bond. I don't recall Adam Higginbotham's book painting Shcherbina in such a heroic light.

The third character of importance is played by Emily Watson, and it's a composite of many other characters. She is a nuclear physicist who tries to get to the bottom of what happened, interviewing the participants. I did note that she and Skarsgard were in a film together many years ago, Breaking The Waves, which was quite different.

The series was immaculately directed by Johan Renck, and is gripping television. After a prologue showing Harris surreptitiously leaving audio recordings in a hidden place, for them to be used by those getting the truth out, the series begins with the explosion itself. I found this a refreshing approach. Most disaster films start with an introduction of characters, but this one starts in full gallop. Later, during the episode dealing with the trial of the men who were supervising the test that led to the explosion, we see what led up to it.

The underlying theme of Chernobyl is that, like a weed growing in concrete, the facts of the situation eventually came forth, but not without the Soviet system trying to minimize them. As Skarsgard says, they are a nation that strives to avoid humiliation. There are a few scenes of meetings, led by Mikhail Gorbachev, played by David Dencik, complete with wine-stain birthmark on the forehead, listening to Harris and Watson spell out the magnitude of what they are facing. Gorbachev would later claim that Chernobyl was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union.

There are all also moments of great suspense, showering the bravery and foolishness of some people. Three men are sent down into the bowels of the plant to empty bubbler tanks. Coal miners are enlisted to install a barrier to prevent a meltdown that would seep into the ground and water table. When robotic devices prove useless in trying to remove graphite from the roof of the reactor, "biorobots," that is men, are used, but can only be on the roof for ninety seconds a time. Jessie Buckley plays the wife of a fireman, who becomes extremely sick with radiation poisoning, and goes to him, risking her own life and that of her unborn child. In one episode we meet some men who are tasked with going about the evacuated city of Pripyat and shooting all the animals, mostly dogs.

Chernobyl is both a cautionary tale, not so much about the dangers of nuclear power but about the hubris of those who think they can stop the truth from getting out, and a thriller. Harris gives a brilliant performance as a man who realizes he has to play ball, but finally can no longer keep silent, even if it means his freedom or his life. Highly recommended.