Chernobyl 2019

     On April 26, 1986 an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics becomes one of the world’s worst man-made catastrophes.  The Number 4 reactor had a nuclear accident and it is one of only two nuclear energy disasters rated at seven, the maximum severity.  The other disaster was in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.  A safety test was being run as a simulation of an electrical power outage.  It was to aid the development of a safety procedure for maintaining cooling water circulation until the back-up generators could provide power.  The test supervisor failed to follow procedure and he created unstable operating conditions.  There were also design falls with the RBMK reactor.  The intentional disabling of several nuclear reactor safety systems resulted in an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction.  A large amount of energy was suddenly released.  This caused the super-heated cooling water to evaporate.  The reactor core was ruptured in a highly destructive steam explosion.  There was an open-air reactor core fire that released considerable airborne radioactive contamination for about nine days!!  The accident was not contained until May 4, 1986.   

     The details portrayed in this film have been exhaustively researched.  Some liberties were taken for dramatic purposes.  People who have lived in the Soviet Union have made comments that the set detail, the way the hierarchy functioned, the denial and secrecy surrounding the disaster are very authentic.  I found that the first option of the Soviet leadership was to lie!!  This series has you on the edge of your seat every minute!!  What is going to happen next and what will be the result?  5* (I really liked this series)

   

TV Series with 5 episodes, total time is 5 hours 30 minutes, Drama, directed by Craig Mazin with Jessie Buckley, Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgard, Adam Nagaitis, Emily Watson, Paul Ritter, Robert Emms, Sam Troughton, Karl Davies, Michael Socha, Laura Elphinstone, Jan Ricica, Alan Williams, Adrian Rawlins, Con O’Neill, Douggie McMeekin, Nadia Clifford, David Dencik, Gerard Kearns, Adam Lundgren, Mark Lewis Jones, Jamie Sives.

Note:  Imdb 9.5 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes, 95% critic 98% audience, Amazon Video 4.8* out of 5* with 689 reviews, Letterboxd average 4.5* out of 5* with 152 reviews, Common Sense Media age 18+,4* out of 5*, positive messages, positive role models, violence & scariness. Drinking, drugs & Smoking and some sex, The Guardian 5*. 

Special Note:  Initial filming started on May 13, 2018 in Fabijoniskes.  This is a residential district in Vilnius, LIthuanai.  Then at the end of March, production moved to Visaginas, Lithuania.  Shooting was done inside and outside of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.  This is a decommissioned nuclear power station that is sometime referred to as Chernobyl’s sister.  The visual resemblance and the nuclear reactor design are the same.  The accurate number of deaths caused by Chernobyl will never be known.  A decree ion 1988 from the Kremlin prevented doctors from citing radiation as a cause of death or illness.  Pro-Kremlin media continues to deny the extent of the disaster saying it has been exaggerated, there are myths such as this caused large numbers of leukemia?