The 5-episode chamber mini-project caused a real surge in spectator activity. Having started talking about the sunset of the serial era, Chernobyl became a kind of small TV reactor, where a minimum of fuel releases a huge amount of energy.
Atomic affairs are always a twilight element. Recall that the processes in RBMK-1000 got out of control at the minimum reactor power. Starting to review the HBO production that has now become super-famous, several restrictions were imposed on me, which made the work on the text even more interesting.
Firstly, taking into account the reverent attitude of the Stereo.ru editorial office to political statements, the assessment of the historical context of the 1986 accident remained outside the brackets. Secondly, about the phenomenon of the series "Chernobyl", which jumped in popularity to the "Game of Thrones" and became the leader of IMDb, everyone who was not lazy - already had time to speak out in conversations, podcasts, facebook and television screens.
Interviews were taken with the creators, they also posted the script in the network. The audience washed all the bones, recognized their father’s ashtrays, pointed out inconsistencies and expressed oh-sighs, saying why some people can take pictures with pleasure, while others have forgotten how. But something else remained unsaid.
It is strange that no one paid attention to the musical past of director Johan Renk. Doesn’t anyone remember in the MTV charts the groovy hit “Here We Go” performed by Stakka Bo - one-on-one, up to the antennae, similar to the hipsters of our time? Check out the difference between moody epigones like Little Big with their Skibidi and the original 1993 video. Even then, despite the light content, it was obvious that Stakka Bo is not a one-day fool and will obviously go further.
This happens when in a movie for some reason an unfamiliar actor from an episode is remembered, and then you find out that in fact it was not an easy pepper, but a director or screenwriter. The same thing happened with Renk - music videos for Madonna, Beyonce and the fashion industry, and then collaboration with the HBO empire (The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad). And here is “Chernobyl”, shot and sustained precisely in that intonation that the viewer needs, which seems to be lost by many domestic filmmakers.
The sound atmosphere of the series was provided by the now demanded Hildur Gudnadottir, whose disturbing cello was probably remembered for the films “Sicario” and “Arrival”. Composer Alfred Schnittke pointed to the atomic bomb as one of the most powerful impressions of the 20th century. Weapons of such crushing power that devalued everything else. Many figures in the 40-50s, shocked by the spectacle of a nuclear mushroom, wondered: is it now possible to seriously engage in art after such a powerful art installation? As it turned out - you can.
The supersaturated solution of the media space has long divided facts and events into separate fractions that are written and move at different speeds. Whether someone likes it or not, we live in a world of events. Marks of logbooks, gravestones, and danger zone signs around the fourth power unit remained in the world of facts. What to do with them?
One waved off. The other was horrified. The third sniffed the texture with a cold dog nose. And the fourth approached her with a creative impulse, split, so to speak, the core. Thus, in the world of events, Chernobyl inspired a lot of people to hang out in S.T.A.L.K.E.R and reflect on the topic of industrial disasters. The further appearance of the HBO mini-series of the same name here does not look anything out of the ordinary.
The backbone of the cast, some of which could be seen in the films of Lars von Trier, was selected very well, with the possible exception of Gorbachev’s prototype. In my personal opinion, the ratio of cranberries to authenticity in the HBO project was approximately 50/50. In parity, speaking diplomatically.
The Soviet Minister of Industry with a pair of machine gunners arrives on the arrow to a free tribe of redneck miners who wipe their hands on his jacket. Do you think such artistic techniques will confuse the viewer? And if this series is watched in Brazil or New Zealand? And in the theater they speak in exaggerated loud voices, and now what? Actually, the creators themselves do not hide that the best review for them was the popularity of the series in the countries of the former USSR. Why did our viewers forgive the new Chernobyl for a number of absurdities like a party grandfather with a cane and a speech in the style of the Soprano Clan?
Reconstruction. To a large extent, the merit of this success belongs to local production studios in Lithuania and Ukraine, which provided the TV picture with authentic props up to costume fabric produced in 1985. Ironically, one of the studios is called Radioaktive Film. A thorough recreation of the little things in the life of the USSR made it possible to break into local consciousness. Moreover, many of them were only born in the 80s or even later. And in fact, they have an idea of the Soviet past mainly by parental junk in the pantry. This is where my mother’s thermos came in handy! But not only. There was a personal one. After all, the ancestors of the scriptwriter Craig Meisin were also from these places, and, I must say, Soviet citizens are shown in the series with great warmth and sympathy.
Critics from the official press, who are supposed to hold a vigilant squint even in a dream, accuse HBO of denigrating the USSR. It is unlikely that the creators' skepticism regarding the actions of the Soviet leadership can be considered a malicious undermining of the foundations of statehood. What foundations were then undermined in The Three Days of Condor or Alien, the spirit of which Chernobyl is compared to by the most enthusiastic fans? The authorities always and everywhere prefer to cover their tracks - is this news to someone?
And besides, in Chernobyl, for example, the wave of looting in the evacuated cities was not reflected at all. The total looting of homes and the spread of the radioactive loot around the country really took place. This could be the source of a gorgeous storyline, but HBO for some reason decided to bypass this story. Perhaps it was they who were shy about denigrating the history of the inhabitants of the USSR? If we go further and slightly change our angle of view, then the individual elements of Chernobyl can generally be regarded as a Soviet production drama - an active female specialist exposed the breeders.
In general, it is clear that you can not please literally everyone. But Chernobyl is certainly worth a look carefully, even if you don’t like the accents of the creators. During the implementation, corrections always happen even in the documentary, not to mention the art project. Direct witnesses of the Chernobyl disaster continued to polemize with each other even after their own death. The official accused Anatoly Dyatlov in his book Chernobyl. How it was ”pointed out the inaccuracies of the Chernobyl Notebook by Grigory Medvedev, which, among other things, served as material for the script by Craig Meisin.
That is why any, even the most meticulous criticism will bounce off the series "Chernobyl" painlessly. The most vulnerable place of the Klukvoborets is the confidence in exclusive rights to the Chernobyl disaster. The whistleblowers do not understand that they are dealing with a world of events, not facts. The event cannot be fenced with a museum cord; it is like a holy spirit — it lives where it wants. Now their rage works only in plus project, increasing interest in him. And if Google notes a record increase in Chernobyl-related queries, it is likely that some viewers will definitely get to deeper documentary materials.