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Side By Side Comparisons Of The Real Chernobyl Vs. The HBO Version Of It (20 pics)
The majority of us have probably already seen or at least heard of the HBO series, Chernobyl. The show was acclaimed by critics and scored a rating of 9.7 stars out of 10 on IMDB, making it the highest-rated TV show on the platform. Many view the series as a TV masterpiece, which was loosely based on Voices of Chernobyl, a book written by Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich. In addition to this, people who have lived in the former Soviet Union are praising the creators of Chernobyl for putting enough effort to recreate the chain of events and the environment itself as accurately as possible. Recently, a video essayist Thomas Flight made a fascinating video that does a side by side comparison of the footage from the series with the real videos that were captured during the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. Scroll down below to see the screenshots from real as well as fictional footage and don't forget to vote for the best of then and now!
More info: Thomas Flight
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The Chernobyl disaster was a devastating nuclear plant accident that occurred on April 26, 1986 at the No. 4 nuclear reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the city of Pripyat in the north of Ukraine (then - Ukrainian SSR).
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To this date, Chernobyl is the biggest nuclear accident to have occurred, or as others put it - the worst man-made accident. The true cost of it is still unknown. Many people were affected directly, but even more of them - indirectly.
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In the HBO series, one of the central characters is Ulana Khomyuk, the scientist from the Belarusian Institute for Nuclear Energy. However, Ulana is fictional, but was based on any scientists that were trying to unravel the real truth behind the Chernobyl disaster. However, it certainly wouldn't be odd to have a woman nuclear scientist in the Soviet Union even at that time as the USSR had an impressive record of training women for STEM roles.
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Cody Eriksen 5 years ago
This dude! The job to tell them, 'Hey, Thanks for putting your lives at risk because of incompetence,' had to mess with him.
#13
Gina LittleNut 5 years ago
The second crime here is the failure of what's left of the USSR to fully acknowledge the rest of the deaths from their accident. They acknowledge something like 38 - and that's it. How many, if any, of the hundreds who did their "time" on the roof are still alive today? How many Firefighters? The 'bridge people' are all gone... And of the survivors - how many are fighting cancers?
Interestingly enough, one of the most realistic depictions in the show was an elderly Bolshevik Zharkov. Although fictional, Zharkov perfectly conveys the Soviet politics and ideology. Moments after the disaster, he is encouraging his comrades to not spread "misinformation," which basically means that no one should tell anything to the public. "No one leaves. And cut the phone lines. Contain the spread of misinformation," he says in the show.
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Alla Iachkulo 5 years ago
They raised the red flag as a symbol of finished work there. So it was the same act as raising the flag on Ivo Jima or on the moon.
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The Screaming Destruction Cat 5 years ago
The flag is a zoom in on the lighthouse itself
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#17
Michiel nospam 5 years ago
Sad and moving to think that even such a small detail as how far the water got was significant for those living through it. They might have wished for those glorious jets...
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James Floyd 5 years ago
I still can't believe that is Stellan Skarsgård. Bill Anderson from Mamma Mia. Father to abusive Perry from BLL and Penniwise the clown.
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Final score:
17points
B Tris Balkauskas 5 years ago
This is an amazing book about Chernobyl. https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Chernobyl-Prayer-Chronicle-Penguin-Classics/dp/0241270537/ref=sr_1_4?crid=124PBW4D8RJL2&keywords=chernobyl+book&qid=1560717629&s=gateway&sprefix=chernob%2Caps%2C238&sr=8-4
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PapillonOne 5 years ago
Natalie Utko surely you are a troll.... while it isn't a documentary, the writer and producers did their best to show the realities of the situation most everyone found themselves in during the years long aftermath of this MAN MADE RUSSIAN disaster. It is sad that it didn't take it as far as it could have and showed what that aftermath entailed in the lives of the citizens who were unlucky to be anywhere close to that reactor!! a great deal of the truth of the aftermath was not provided as in what happened to not just the soldiers, miners and liquidators but also to the entire population of Kiev whose 3 million citizens were either not informed or forced (if they knew or suspected) to take part in a huge holiday labor parade thereby getting even more exposure to high levels of radiation as the wind had shifted and a radiation cloud appeared over the city with some of the highest levels of radiation there were!! ...
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What do you think ?
fainasKeturatis 5 years ago
still - very culture-banal understanding caused it to be a bit off from reality in some actually decent aspects. but yes, good job and closer than most of the shows.
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Anna Datsyuk 5 years ago
And also the background is WOW!!! The work on the details of the show was just tremendous. It's unbelievable how exact was the depiction of everyday stuff in american show. I was born in Ukraine in 1984, husband is 9 years older and we couldn't keep saying every few minutes "Look, that thing, that furniture, that cup, that nightgown (etc) - like my mum had in the 80-s!!! - but how did they found it???" Just absolutely amazing job and such attention to every insignificant detail of all the scenes. It's like a time-machine to my childhood. Never seen smth like that even in our films or shows
Koen Ceulemans 5 years ago
We remembered D Day,but we should also remember the people who gave they're lives to save us. with the same egards .Why don't we remember them? Maybe this series is an eyeopener.
HoffLensMetalHedLovesAnimalsUK 5 years ago
I have just finished it, very well, done, gripping (even though i knew the story), absolutely recommended watching. Emily Watson was amazing in it.
Vesela SV 5 years ago
Всичко в този сериал е толкова автентично! Върна ме в онова ужасно време! Плаках на всички епизоди.
Kamila Ferens 5 years ago
I was born in Poland just a few months before this catastrophe and as I get older I have more and more health issues that are most likely cause by radioactive cloud from Chernobyl back then. it's kinda wild to think that how I am now is because of that. Can't imagine how people who were living close to it are doing.
Matthew Smith 5 years ago
I haven't seen this yet, however from the word on the net it's worth looking at.
Maria Rohlen 5 years ago
I'm impressed how close to reality the show is. I was working the night shifts in Forsmark nuclear power station when we detected something was wrong with our equipment, we thought, until we realised it wasn't a malfunction, it was Chernobyl ... Finland did actually detect it before Sweden, but they didn't tell because they were afraid of the Sovjet union.
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
I was in northern Greece at the time of the Chernobyl accident. Since I was a bit out of touch with the news, I had already bought and eaten some strawberries that possibly were contaminated from the radioactive cloud, there had been a soft rain coming down ... I still occasionally worry about the consequences. How the millions of people that were in closer vicinity than I was are feeling, I can only imagine.
Hua Wei Wei 5 years ago
what does northern Greece have to do with it? Wind was blowing to the north of Chernobyl (check out the map of exclusion zone), not to the south-west. However, if you feel that you were poisoned by radiation you probably were :D
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Gina LittleNut 5 years ago
SO they lied when the made the movie about how selfless the Russians were who basically worked miracles and gave their lives to save others? Funny - it's not the norm for the US to make Hero's out of Russians....
Load More Replies... fainasKeturatis 5 years ago
still - very culture-banal understanding caused it to be a bit off from reality in some actually decent aspects. but yes, good job and closer than most of the shows.
Load More Replies... Anna Datsyuk 5 years ago
And also the background is WOW!!! The work on the details of the show was just tremendous. It's unbelievable how exact was the depiction of everyday stuff in american show. I was born in Ukraine in 1984, husband is 9 years older and we couldn't keep saying every few minutes "Look, that thing, that furniture, that cup, that nightgown (etc) - like my mum had in the 80-s!!! - but how did they found it???" Just absolutely amazing job and such attention to every insignificant detail of all the scenes. It's like a time-machine to my childhood. Never seen smth like that even in our films or shows
Koen Ceulemans 5 years ago
We remembered D Day,but we should also remember the people who gave they're lives to save us. with the same egards .Why don't we remember them? Maybe this series is an eyeopener.
HoffLensMetalHedLovesAnimalsUK 5 years ago
I have just finished it, very well, done, gripping (even though i knew the story), absolutely recommended watching. Emily Watson was amazing in it.
Vesela SV 5 years ago
Всичко в този сериал е толкова автентично! Върна ме в онова ужасно време! Плаках на всички епизоди.
Kamila Ferens 5 years ago
I was born in Poland just a few months before this catastrophe and as I get older I have more and more health issues that are most likely cause by radioactive cloud from Chernobyl back then. it's kinda wild to think that how I am now is because of that. Can't imagine how people who were living close to it are doing.
Matthew Smith 5 years ago
I haven't seen this yet, however from the word on the net it's worth looking at.
Maria Rohlen 5 years ago
I'm impressed how close to reality the show is. I was working the night shifts in Forsmark nuclear power station when we detected something was wrong with our equipment, we thought, until we realised it wasn't a malfunction, it was Chernobyl ... Finland did actually detect it before Sweden, but they didn't tell because they were afraid of the Sovjet union.
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
I was in northern Greece at the time of the Chernobyl accident. Since I was a bit out of touch with the news, I had already bought and eaten some strawberries that possibly were contaminated from the radioactive cloud, there had been a soft rain coming down ... I still occasionally worry about the consequences. How the millions of people that were in closer vicinity than I was are feeling, I can only imagine.
Hua Wei Wei 5 years ago
what does northern Greece have to do with it? Wind was blowing to the north of Chernobyl (check out the map of exclusion zone), not to the south-west. However, if you feel that you were poisoned by radiation you probably were :D
Load More Replies... Gina LittleNut 5 years ago
SO they lied when the made the movie about how selfless the Russians were who basically worked miracles and gave their lives to save others? Funny - it's not the norm for the US to make Hero's out of Russians....
Load More Replies...
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