*Get "Chernobyl" on Amazon here*
*Get Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham on Amazon here*
This massive, five hour television mini-series is a combination of disaster film, political thriller, science jargon, and body horror that completely works on all fronts.
In 1988, Valery (Jared Harris) secrets some audio tapes he's made about his role in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster before hanging himself (not a spoiler, this literally happens in the opening minutes). We are then taken back to the night of the accident, and knowing now what we didn't know then, watch as first the USSR, and then the world, deals with a monumental catastrophe that has never occured in the history of man before.
I consider this the best television miniseries ever created. The struggling Soviet Union is portrayed brilliantly, with the Russian cultural sense captured in all its glory. Craig Mazin's script is not anti-nuclear, but anti-nuclear accident. The catastrophe almost affected millions of people, and how we were spared from the greatest manmade disaster of all-time by mere hours and smart brainstorming should give everyone pause. One aspect of the script rarely mentioned in other reviews is a subtle but deserved swipe at communism and socialism in general. The State is a lumbering, suffocating bureaucracy, with party members and titles being tossed around at an alarming rate, and the non-thankful peons grinding away for no recognition of their own except the thanks of a few higher-ups. Many modern day socialists would argue that Cold War communism "wasn't done right," but as the United States deals with its own lumbering, suffocating bureaucracy, I'm going to differ.
Ulana (Emily Watson) is a combination of many people who helped Valery and Boris (Stellan Skarsgard) try to figure out how to stop the accident from literally spreading, and finding out why the impossible happened and what to do when it happens again. Mazin's script still carves out Ulana as a well-rounded character, however, and I didn't question that she wasn't a real person until seeing the end coda. The film makers allow forays into supporting character and story arcs, reminding the viewer that there were actual people involved- the young firefighter (Adam Nagaitis) and his wife (Jessie Buckley), the recruit (Barry Keoghan) and his hunting assignment, the coal miners, and harried medical staff all deal with the situation while hampered by the State using an iron fist to control them. They are supported by strong direction from Johan Renck, who helmed all five episodes, so there's is a clear vision that never strays from its intent.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect this level of drama, intensity, or wrenching tragedy that I finished in one day. I sat down to a talking head information dump with Liberal elites trying their worst Russian accents, and got the exact opposite. Amazing, and I'm not sure I'll ever see anything like it again.
(TV-MA)- Physical violence, gun violence, strong gore, profanity, nudity, adult situations, strong tobacco use, strong alcohol use
