Using archival footage from the former Soviet Union and a mix of old and contemporary interviews, the thrilling documentary Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes recreates the 1986 nuclear disaster from the perspective of the people who were present during the devastation.
We hear from Lyudmila Ihnatenko (the inspiration for Jessie Buckley’s character in the HBO dramatized miniseries), a resident of the area who was pregnant when the disaster happened, and whose husband, a firefighter, went to the factory after the initial explosion. Oleksiy Breus, an engineer in Chernobyl, says he would go to work the next day without even knowing what had happened. It’s horrifying to hear about the slowness of the evacuation – there is talk of children going to playgrounds instead of taking shelter indoors – or to see flashes in the footage we’re told are from the movie itself that registers radiation.
Some of the most powerful images involve the “liquidators,” men charged with containment and clean-up in the months following the accident. Talking about radiation is rejected as nonsense. Shortly after, the film shows mind-boggling videos of them shoveling debris while absorbing suspected lethal doses.
While it was mentioned at the outset that the Soviets were documenting the aftermath of the accident, hoping to propagate the story of a heroic rescue, one might wonder who is holding a video camera at the time. But “Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes”, directed by James Jones, does not elaborate on the history of its components. It’s less about the tapes themselves than about witnessing.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes
Not judged. In Ukrainian, Russian and English, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes. Check out HBO platforms.