Review: 

The Core is blown open. Its poison spreads into the air, water, and flesh of everything it touches. And yet it is impossible. Those who had the power to save the lives of tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children deny the obvious out of fear. But greater lies are at work and the truth is yet to be revealed. 

HBO’s five-episode miniseries asks the simple question: What is the cost of lies? 

And with beautiful writing, excellent cinematography, and a haunting soundtrack that rivals classic horror movie greats in its tension and suspense, “Chernobyl” answers that question in the only way it can; with death and suffering on full horrific display. 

Chernobyl is a five-episode mini-series that Craig Mazin, best known for the Hangover movies, created. It was released in 2019 but is still available on HBO Max.

The series stars Jared Harris and Stellen Skarsgard as Valarey Lagasov and Boris Shcerbrina. Both characters serve as the main protagonists and are also both real people. Valarey Lagasov was the chief nuclear physicist and deputy director of the Kurchatov Institute sent by the Soviet government to evaluate the situation at Chernobyl. He is joined by Boris Shcerbrina a Deputy Chairmen on the council of ministers of the Soviet Union. Both men are played beautifully by their actors. From Legasovs desperate determination to Shcerbrina’s quiet despair over their situation both actors steal the show often with their talent. 

However, they are not alone as they are joined by an equally excellent supporting cast who also showcases the disaster of Chernobyl and why it was so devastating. From the tragedy of the wife of a firefighter who responded to the supposed fire on the roof at the power plant, to the dissolution of both a young conscript and an old veteran soldier called upon to do painful things in the name of the country and its people. 

while the heroes are played excellently by these human actors, the true villain of Chernobyl is threefold: human error, authoritarian governments, and nuclear radiation.

One of the show's main points is that the RMBK reactors used at the Chernobyl power plant were designed cheaply and poorly. A disaster of some magnitude was inevitable. And that's where the second villain shows their colors. 

From endless bureaucracy to the unceasing watch of the KGB the protagonists are constantly stifled and stopped by the corruption and paranoia of the Soviet state they serve.

However the most terrifying of these three villains is the radiation itself. One of the most brilliant decisions the creators of this series ever made was to almost make the radiation seem supernatural. The reactor seems like some dark eldritch god beyond time and space that is so beyond human comprehension that being in its presence destroys the body and mind. That is the impression that this invisible poison that rips people's atoms apart gives off. It is not of this planet. 

This feeling of the cosmic horror of the reactor only serves to enhance the show's most unappreciated and underrepresented theme: Heroism. 

Every single soldier, Liquidator, Engineer, and Miner who held back the disaster was not just cleaning up after a flood. The show portrays their struggle as more like a war against some unknowable dark entity. 

The show makes it clear that most of these men are putting themselves into an early grave because of the numerous incurable and untreatable diseases they may catch. 

But on they march. Because they must protect their people and save the world. It is the little glint of light the show gives the audience. A shimmer of nobility in a world so bleak and full of horror beyond our reckoning. 

All of this fantastic work is only enhanced however by the fantastic soundtrack by Icelandic composer Hidur Gudnadottir. She, along with fellow English composer Chris Watson recorded much of the soundtrack at Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. She decided against using traditional instruments and instead opted for a more unconventional sound that would immerse the audience in the strange horrific setting the show forces them to be in. Constant droning and the sound of metal settling permeates the show’s musical score and serve to put the audience in feeling unease and suspense until the credits roll on the final episode. The only two songs that defy this are "Black Raven" and "Vichnaya Pamyat or Eternal Memory." 

"Black Raven" is a song about a dying soldier who has died for his country. This song is in a way a lament for the characters of Pavel Gremov and Bacho. Both are soldiers conscripted to the cleanup of the exclusion zone and forced to commit acts of violence in order to save their country from the threat of radiation. 

Pavel is a civilian who was pressed into service long after the war in Afghanistan where Bacho served. He is not used to the job he has been assigned. And while he grows to be more numb to his orders he loses a part of himself in exchange. He becomes more like his mentor Bacho. 

Bacho is a veteran of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and has killed others before. He comes off as a bitter and mean man who has been hardened by his experiences. He has long been numb to death and has grown cold because of it.

This song mourns the deaths of their souls who much like the irradiated bodies of those buried in the exclusion zone their souls are coated in concrete never to be returned to the world again.

Vichnaya Pamyat serves a greater purpose, however. It is intentionally placed in the epilogue of the final episode and it serves as a final tribute to the tragedy of Chernobyl. It is an Orthodox Christian funeral hymn only sung in memory of the dead. It is only right that its haunting beauty be placed at the end of this tale of horror and tragedy. 

Over all HBO’s "Chernobyl" is a masterclass in filmmaking. Its horrific beauty is something truly enthralling. 

And it is an extraordinarily well-done depiction of the disaster that if not for endless sacrifice, suffering, and selfless heroism could have very well destroyed us all. 

It is an earned 10/10 

Where to Watch: 

HBO Max:https://www.hbo.com/chernobyl 

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Chernobyl-Season-1/dp/B07PGBXYPV 

Hulu:https://www.hulu.com/series/chernobyl-849bed9a-2da8-484b-8cdf-d7000090fc5d