Chernobyl

I was born in Ukraine, 1971. Parents - Soviet "intelligentsia": mother was a high school teacher, father - medical doctor in the military. By the time it happened, we lived near one of the strategic nuclear missile site deep in Siberia. Every year, during the summer school break we used to go to Ukraine, where we spent most of vocation. It should have been the same in 1986, but Chernobyl happened. Official info reiterated that there is nothing to worry about, unless you are in the vicinity of reactor itself. But we all had learned to read between the lines and my farther used his military channels to find out EXACTLY what kind of catastrophe was taking place. He had some info from KGB guys themselves. However, he was reassured that Kiev and certain parts of Ukraine was free of the nuclear fallout and the level of the radioactivity was within normal urban level. He was also clearly warned where NOT TO GO under any circumstances: North-West of Ukraine and big part of Belarus was a heavy fall-out zone. They also mentioned some European countries. Needless to say, that nobody else was talking about this on TV. We made a decision not to change our plans for the summer, but keep in mind those warnings.Each of us had DKP-50A - dosimeter that measures the exposure dose of gamma radiation. We checked the data afterwards and all measures were withing normal limits or less. I remember though, that it was restricted to collect mushrooms or wild berries in the forests anywhere in Ukraine. Any dusty environment was considered dangerous. All water wells were sealed with plastic etc etc Mini series exceeded my expectations. Authors put quite an effort to correctly depict intricate details of this catastrophe. As other reviewers already mentioned, I had noticed so far ( 3 episodes) only minor discrepancies in the overall image of the life in the USSR. People, behavior, political relations etc. Example of such a minuscule inaccuracy - officials, let along common folks, didn't use "comrade" as frequently as it might seems from the episodes. It was very formal, official form of addressing. Usually, after first meeting, they addressed each other by the first AND middle name. In the military it was different - "comrade" + rank (as in modern Russia, BTW). I'm looking forward to see the rest. I am thankful to the authors and actors for their job. My deep bow to those who lost their lives and health, saving millions of lives. EVERYONE should watch this show and see for himself the kind of horror that can be unleashed in the nuclear war.

Hi. I'm from Kiev, Ukraine. I was born in 1983 and I was 2 and a half years when the Chernobyl catastrophe happened. I remember 1980s and I can tell that the authors of this film made a GREAT job to show every detail of what the world look for is in the times of Soviet union. The telephones, the clothes, the haircuts, the cracked paint on the window sills, even the door glass is similar to what I remember. There are couple of things which seemed weird to me: firefighters didn't have the red stars on their helmets, and most of the time people use the short forms of the names when they talk to each other (Vasya, not Vasiliy, Lyuda, not Lyudmila). But the most important thing that this film shows is that the soviet authoritiies lied to people about this catastrophe all the time. For example, in Kiev which is 130 km from Chernobyl, nobody knew about the high levels of radiation till the middle of May, they even held a parade on the first of May, when the level of radiation in Kiev was 100 times higher than normal (iodine131 isotope) and nobody gave us the iodine pills. Everyone who tried to tell the truth was called the provocateur and could even be fired from work. I highly recommend to watch this film. This is a tribute to all the heroes who lost their lives in a radioactive flame and saved all of us from death.

'Chernobyl' is scarier than most horror movies in that it is a dramatization of actual, real-life horror experienced by thousands of people on that fateful April 1986 morning and the years that followed. This disaster has haunted the nation, Europe, and the rest of mankind more than three decades later. And that creeping dread permeates the whole show. It's difficult to watch. But it certainly makes it a must-watch.

My husband grew up near Kyiv and his father drove one of the buses that evacuated the civilians from Pripyat. I have heard his stories of the disaster; the people's concerns, fears and sacrifices. We watch this together and he is amazed at it's authenticity. The set detail, the way the Soviet regime hierarchy functioned, the denial and secrecy surrounding the disaster. He tried (as he usually does when watching a Western production based in or about that part of the world) to find errors or inconsistencies but has not been able to - yet.

The acting is impeccable by all, the filming is top notch, the sounds used to heighten the tension versus music. The way they are able to capture that exact feeling of anxiety, horror, disgust and sadness all rolled into one is admirable.

I have completed the series and it definitely ranks as one of the best. This story has been waiting to be told and there is hands down no one better than HBO to do it. Russia has said it intends to produce its own Chernobyl program, it will be interesting to compare the two. Theirs will purportedly label the CIA as the perpetrator....

I'm Russian. Amazing work! Newer, you hear this, never ever before western cinematography made such authentic film. I speak about details: cars, kitchens, clothes...