Chernobyl Miniseries Review: A Gripping Tale of Secrets and Lies!

Truth is stranger than fiction and usually, far more terrifying. Every now and then comes along a documentary movie or a TV series based on some horrifying truths which makes us wonder how mankind more often than not, overestimates its intelligence and is so severely short sighted about the consequences of its actions. The latest HBO Original docudrama, Chernobyl is one such miniseries of five episodes that unravels the grim truth about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986 – an entirely man-made disaster.

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The first episode directly dives into the depth of the disaster – On April 26th of 1986, in the wee hours of the morning, one of the nuclear reactors of the Chernobyl nuclear powerplant in erstwhile Ukrainian USSR, explodes and releases excessively high radioactive material into the atmosphere leading to a never seen before nuclear disaster.

However, the senior management of the nuclear powerplant, which was actually running a safety test at that point dismisses the nuclear explosion as a mere fire accident in order to save face before the State administration. We soon realize that even the top brass of the USSR tries hard to deny the existence of a nuclear disaster which might undermine its stature as a nuclear super power in the world.

During the first few critical hours after the accident while the bureaucracy is busy trying to cover up the fact of the matter, all life for miles around the powerplant, including plant, animal and human life is suffering inordinate chemical radiation. The firefighters and the working staff of the powerplant are witnessing their bodies being chemically burnt as they try to put off the massive fire; unaware about the reality of the matter.

Only after the scientific community is included in the assessment of the aftermath is the enormity of the disaster realized. In its further episodes, the docudrama continues to explore how the explosion actually took place when it was not even considered a possibility in the minds of the powerplant management and how the disaster was best managed with a self-serving government at the helm and at the cost of many innocent lives.

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Through the series, we follow the bullish bureaucrat Borys Shcherbyna (played by the charismatic Stellan Skarsgard) and the guileless scientist Valery Legasov (played by Jared Harris of Mad Men fame) who are in charge of the disaster management. Faced by an apocalyptic disaster with long lasting effects and the task of containing the spread of radiation, the two protagonists form an unlikely friendship as Shcherbyna looks beyond political propaganda and Legasov sheds his naivety to stand up against misinformation. The helplessness of the protagonists at various points is extremely effective in depicting how mankind is quite powerless when it loses control to the forces of nature.

We also follow the aftermath on the ground through a firefighter’s family and the other severe causalities as they slowly decay in a matter of days due to hyper radiation. Despite an untrustworthy government many men sacrifice their lives and health to clean up and contain the nuclear radiation from becoming a global disaster. When pets and other animals around the disaster area have to be killed and buried as they have become radioactive, the story is able to reach far into a viewer’s mind to establish how the mistake of few men in power is capable of effacing life itself.

The beauty of Chernobyl lies in its various layers and all the dimensions it brings in to understand the enormity of the disaster. Instead of approaching the disaster as a blame game, it explores how mankind is ironically both fatalistic and heroic in nature. It shows how a socialist regime like the USSR is capable of holding public communication within its fold and disseminating only misinformation to maintain its image as a super power, even though it was completely crumbling down from within.

Due to the Soviet propaganda, to this day the actual count of death and other casualties cannot be determined. This becomes especially relevant and renders a universal appeal to the show considering today’s time of fake news and twitter propaganda. It is also a relevant cautionary tale of how unchecked and unnatural progress in industry and technology can be disastrous as climate change is already knocking at our doors. Despite the bleakness of the story, the series restores hope in mankind which comes together in times of need and tides over difficulties as best possible.

The docudrama deserves a mention for its screenplay, direction, production and cinematography. It excels in every department. To understand what went wrong leading up to the nuclear disaster, one needs to understand the science behind how a nuclear reactor could explode and that can definitely be intellectually cumbersome for a casual binge watcher like me. But the entire shebang gets conveyed simplistically in a mere courtroom scene in the last episode. The show has been shot in a decommissioned nuclear power plant in Lithuania and the settlement around it to appropriately deliver the Soviet look, feel and authenticity. Though, without taking away much from the show’s achievement, the only misgiving could be that the spoken language is entirely in English.

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Chernobyl ends as it begins by posing the question, what is the cost of lies? It gives the answer that if we lie enough, we no longer recognize the truth. It appears that the biggest lie mankind keeps telling itself is that it can be in control and that lie may just blind us from the truth that mankind may never know enough to remain in control. This one is a highly recommended binge watch!

Rating – 4.5/5 | Grade – A+