Chernobyl Mini TV Series Review

On the 26^th of April in 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a huge explosion causing a nuclear accident near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is considered the worst nuclear disaster in history both in cost and casualties, as well as “one of the most radioactive places in the world as a result of the cataclysmic nuclear meltdown at the Chernobyl power plant 34 years ago”. For a long time, we had nothing other than two books and the media telling us what happened at the Chernobyl power plant, however, the HBO series ‘Chernobyl’, released in 2019, finally started telling the tale, although somewhat fictionized. Read on for a full review on the mini television series.

The very well-received television series was created and written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck. The “material culture of the Soviet Union is reproduced with an accuracy that has never before been seen in Western television or film — or, for that matter, in Russian television or film. Clothes, objects, and light itself seem to come straight out of nineteen-eighties Ukraine, Belarus, and Moscow.” The gripping five-part miniseries “tells the powerful and visceral story of the worst man-made accident in history, following the tragedy from the moment of the early-morning explosion through the chaos and loss of life in the ensuing days, weeks and months”.

Description:

“On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, Soviet Union suffered a massive explosion that released radioactive material across Belarus, Russia and Ukraine and as far as Scandinavia and western Europe. Chernobyl dramatizes the story of the 1986 accident, one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, and the sacrifices made to save Europe from the unimaginable disaster.”

From the very first episode, the opening conjured up panic and despair, beginning with the suicide of nuclear physicist Valery Legasov, played by Jared Harris, before going back two years to the time of the explosion at the Nuclear Power Plant. ‘Chernobyl’ is a disaster, tragedy, and a horror series with political thriller and drama. “The terror is unflinching and explicit, and its images of burned bodies collapsing into putrid decay are impossible to forget. Yet it never feels shocking for the sake of it, only as haunting and horrible as its subject matter demands.”

Despite the horrific things that took place over the course of the five episodes, it feels as if the length is not nearly enough to cover all the true and thrilling facts that took place in the real Chernobyl. I would highly recommend anyone interested in true stories and horrors to have a go and watch this mini-series, as it not only acts as a form of entertainment, but it gives a perspective into human behaviour during these situations, whether completely real or not.

For Information on the real Chernobyl: