Chernobyl (Miniseries)

[Dukefrukem]

Agreed. So well executed.

[[ETM]]

I dressed up as Dyatlov for our office New Year party. Built a Geiger counter from scrap, with lights and sound, stuck at 3.6 roentgen per hour of course.

Sent from my Mi 9 Lite using Tapatalk

[Ivan Drago]

Forgive the redundancies when my comments from earlier show up here, but I finished this last night, and I can confirm this is better than most of the movies to come out in 2019. It creatively builds suspense through a sound design made from overpowering sound effects, and the ominous drones from its musical score, meanwhile, shadowy cinematography gives the series a bleak and terrifying look. I’ve never watched anything, let alone a miniseries, succeed in informing its audience about the science behind its heady subject matter in a way that’s straightforward and palatable as it builds the persistent, haunting feeling that everyone involved in this tragedy will die a horrible death. I’m left helpless when reminded this disaster actually happened, and this miniseries about it serves as a cautionary, harrowing tale about the delusions of power, the dangers of lies, and the consequences both wreak. It’s a tough watch, but a remarkable achievement from all involved.

[Dukefrukem]

Yeh the toughest thing to watch was the animal episode.

But that final courtroom scene. Just brilliant.

[megladon8]

I loved this, until I read about how almost offensively inaccurate it was in portraying so much violence and friction that just wasn't there.

That aspect of it felt like it should have been released in the 80s, when America was still scared of Big Bad Russia.

Production and acting wise it's stellar stuff. And it was certainly gripping.

I mean, I loved watching it. I was just disappointed in the creators for perpetuating such a backwards view of Russian society.

[Lazlo]

I loved this, until I read about how almost offensively inaccurate it was in portraying so much violence and friction that just wasn't there.

That aspect of it felt like it should have been released in the 80s, when America was still scared of Big Bad Russia.

Production and acting wise it's stellar stuff. And it was certainly gripping.

I mean, I loved watching it. I was just disappointed in the creators for perpetuating such a backwards view of Russian society.

Curious as to what you read that's claiming inaccuracy and what the points of contention were. I recall it being praised for its accuracy. Yes, some characters are composites of multiple real-life people and some were placed in scenes where the real person wouldn't have been, but the overall vibe and narrative of the thing seems to have been pretty spot-on.

I don't think it's any kind of jingoistic anti-Russia thing. More than anything it's about modern-day America in its "What is the cost of lies?" thesis, and even prescient regarding the response to the pandemic in many countries.

[Ezee E]

Curious as to what you read that's claiming inaccuracy and what the points of contention were. I recall it being praised for its accuracy. Yes, some characters are composites of multiple real-life people and some were placed in scenes where the real person wouldn't have been, but the overall vibe and narrative of the thing seems to have been pretty spot-on.

I don't think it's any kind of jingoistic anti-Russia thing. More than anything it's about modern-day America in its "What is the cost of lies?" thesis, and even prescient regarding the response to the pandemic in many countries.

Chernobyl Inaccuracies

You pretty much nailed it. As one that enjoys trying to figure out what's true, not true in these type of biopics, nothing came as a big surprise.

[Dukefrukem]

Chernobyl Inaccuracies

You pretty much nailed it. As one that enjoys trying to figure out what's true, not true in these type of biopics, nothing came as a big surprise.

I mean, I think most of those are understood and the whole point the show was trying to do was condense all of the events into a shorter time-frame. It makes for excellent drama. And it was definitely stated at the end of the series that Emily Watson's character was a representation of several dozen scientists. Which would be impossible, if not severely boring, to depict on screen.

[megladon8]

From an article in The New Yorker...


"Unfortunately, apart from these striking moments, the series often veers between caricature and folly. In Episode 2, for example, the Central Committee member Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgård) threatens to have Legasov shot if he doesn’t tell him how a nuclear reactor works. There are a lot of people throughout the series who appear to act out of fear of being shot. This is inaccurate: summary executions, or even delayed executions on orders of a single apparatchik, were not a feature of Soviet life after the nineteen-thirties. By and large, Soviet people did what they were told without being threatened with guns or any punishment.

Similarly repetitive and ridiculous are the many scenes of heroic scientists confronting intransigent bureaucrats by explicitly criticizing the Soviet system of decision-making. In Episode 3, for example, Legasov asks, rhetorically, “Forgive me—maybe I’ve just spent too much time in my lab, or maybe I’m just stupid. Is this really the way it all works? An uninformed, arbitrary decision that will cost who knows how many lives that is made by some apparatchik, some career Party man?” Yes, of course this is the way it works, and, no, he hasn’t been in his lab so long that he didn’t realize that this is how it works..."

[Ezee E]

I mean, I think most of those are understood and the whole point the show was trying to do was condense all of the events into a shorter time-frame. It makes for excellent drama. And it was definitely stated at the end of the series that Emily Watson's character was a representation of several dozen scientists. Which would be impossible, if not severely boring, to depict on screen.

Completely agree.

It's not like Black Klansman that completely adjusts time zones and makes up conflicts in order to fit the intended theme.

[Lazlo]

From an article in The New Yorker...


"Unfortunately, apart from these striking moments, the series often veers between caricature and folly. In Episode 2, for example, the Central Committee member Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgård) threatens to have Legasov shot if he doesn’t tell him how a nuclear reactor works. There are a lot of people throughout the series who appear to act out of fear of being shot. This is inaccurate: summary executions, or even delayed executions on orders of a single apparatchik, were not a feature of Soviet life after the nineteen-thirties. By and large, Soviet people did what they were told without being threatened with guns or any punishment.

Similarly repetitive and ridiculous are the many scenes of heroic scientists confronting intransigent bureaucrats by explicitly criticizing the Soviet system of decision-making. In Episode 3, for example, Legasov asks, rhetorically, “Forgive me—maybe I’ve just spent too much time in my lab, or maybe I’m just stupid. Is this really the way it all works? An uninformed, arbitrary decision that will cost who knows how many lives that is made by some apparatchik, some career Party man?” Yes, of course this is the way it works, and, no, he hasn’t been in his lab so long that he didn’t realize that this is how it works..."

Yeah, I dunno if that rises to the level of "offensively inaccurate." It's dramatic license and shorthand, but it's not like they got the broad strokes (and even very many of the details) so wrong as, to me at least, to be anything that ought to gravely detract from appreciation of the thing.

[megladon8]

I have to express how much I loved not hearing a single cheesy, overdone Russian accent in the whole show.

Everyone spoke more or less the way they normally do, regardless of natural accent. Stellan made his voice a little rougher, but didn't change his accent.

I find poorly done accents 10000000000 times more distracting than just letting the actors speak normally.

[Lazlo]

I have to express how much I loved not hearing a single cheesy, overdone Russian accent in the whole show.

Everyone spoke more or less the way they normally do, regardless of natural accent. Stellan made his voice a little rougher, but didn't change his accent.

I find poorly done accents 10000000000 times more distracting than just letting the actors speak normally.

I'm a billion-percent with you on this. It's always preferable this way.

Always blew my mind that people complained there weren't German accents in Valkyrie. No chance it would have worked.

[megladon8]

I'm a billion-percent with you on this. It's always preferable this way.

Always blew my mind that people complained there weren't German accents in Valkyrie. No chance it would have worked.

Part of me is morbidly curious to see a theatrically released film with Tom Cruise aping a German accent.

[Ezee E]

If TOm Cruise was asked to do one, he would've time traveled to 1942 for fun.

[[ETM]]

Didn't Valkyrie do a Red October switch, where everyone spoke German until we kinda "flipped" to English in a specific moment? It's natural that they wouldn't have an accent, I prefer that approach.

[Lazlo]

Didn't Valkyrie do a Red October switch, where everyone spoke German until we kinda "flipped" to English in a specific moment? It's natural that they wouldn't have an accent, I prefer that approach.

Yeah it starts with Cruise writing in a journal and it's read in German on the voice over. Can't remember how the switch exactly goes down, though I'm sure it isn't as elegant as Red October.