Chernobyl: the brilliant sign that HBO is more than Game of Thrones
Listen this article
The miniseries is a co-production between HBO and SKY, and it shows the depth of the tragedy that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1986
Before the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, the biggest radioactive tragedy occurred in Chernobyl, Ukraine. A well-known fact that after 33 continues to generate questions about the magnitude of the event and the mystery that for decades have surrounded the consequences. HBO and SKY have co-produced the brilliant miniseries Chernobyl, based on the events of 1986, including the disaster itself and the human reaction to it, the Debate site highlights.
The miniseries
Chernobyl , premiered on May 6, consists of 5 chapters in which Craig Mazin and Johan Renck ( Breaking Bad, Vikings ), as writer and director respectively, explore what happened at the Vladimir I. Lenin Nuclear Power Plant since the day of the explosion until the response of the Soviet authorities and the civilian population, according to El Tiempo. The series has a bold balance between art and production design, performances, and special effects, which manage to capture the uncertainty and tension that occurred in the moments after the explosion.
Renck puts on screen the feeling of the apocalypse, by the darkness produced by reactor emissions, but also by the refusal of the Soviet authorities to respond promptly, civilians being the first victims of their omissions, to become a global disaster that dealt of being hidden by the Soviets. With this production HBO shows that it is more than Game of Thrones, the producer is about to find a reality in which its great success is no longer, with other bets up its sleeve. Chernobyl is an excellent example of what HBO is capable of.
You can also read: Our Netflix Planet: are we already immune to environmental documentaries?
The Protagonists
One of its successes is the fact of showing the tragedy from different points of view, from the inhabitants of Prípiat whose life was stopped in time, the Soviet authorities, the scientists in charge of the plant and the thousands of faceless characters who fell ill or They died trying to mitigate the consequences of the disaster, a fact that until today continues without a final solution.
Jared Harris ( Mad Men, Sherlock Holmes ) is the strongest face in the production playing the scientist Valery Legasov, also highlight Stellan Skarsgård ( Avengers, Good will hunting ), Emily Watson ( Angela's Ahes, The Theory of Everything ) and Paul Ritter ( Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Quantum of Solace ), among others, according to information from the Argentine site El cronista.
One of the most interesting protagonists of the production is the music of the cellist and composer Hildur Gudnadóttir, who has achieved a work of high strength and dramatism, which is reflected in the synthetic sounds and the dark and industrial atmospheres that frame the series. It manages to recreate some characteristic sounds associated with radioactivity meters and waves that significantly increase the tension.
The real disaster
On April 26, 1986, one of the reactors of the Vladimir I. Lenin Nuclear Power Plant, better known as Chernobyl, had failures that triggered the overheating of the nucleus, losing control of the power station. This caused an explosion to the interior that caused the cover of the reactor to fly, allowing the emission of radiation. The response of the Soviet authorities was slow, to avoid a scandal, which turned out to be worse. The city of Prípiat, near the accident, had to be evacuated, in addition to the severe ecological disaster that the disaster had as a consequence in Europe and the world.
LatinAmerican Post | Luis Ángel Hernández Liborio
Translated from "Chernobyl: la brillante muestra de que HBO es más que Juego de Tronos"
