On June 4, 2019, the last episode of the series “Chernobyl” was released in Russian, directed by Johan Renk. The serial film realistically describes the events of the disaster that occurred in 1986. Some heroes of the plot really existed, and events took place. Other characters and situations are fictitious.
Fictional character
One of the main characters is a nuclear physicist from Minsk named Ulyana Khomyuk. She notices, being in her country, the consequences of the disaster and arrives at the scene of the tragic event of her own free will. Ulyana finds secret documents in the archives, speaks at meetings with Gorbachev, speaks out in court of those responsible for the tragedy, visits the victims in the hospital and convinces the protagonists to make the right decisions. The heroine is a collective image of people who were eyewitnesses and participants in those events. Its function is to convey important information to viewers through an engaging storyline. Among the characters of the series there are more men than women. Ulyana also balances the gender composition of the characters.
Other locations
Instead of the real places of action in Pripyat and at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, we see in the series the surroundings of Vilnius and Kaunas, which are located in Lithuania. Some buildings from the time of the USSR were well preserved and were suitable for filming. The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant is similar in structure to the Chernobyl, so the scenes at the control unit were shot there.
Chronological Inaccuracies
In the fourth episode, a monument was shown at the intersection of Podolsky descent and Frunze street, erected in honor of the liquidators of the disaster. The monument was erected only in 2011, when 25 years have passed since the tragedy.
During the liquidation of the consequences of the accident, a helicopter crashed, which caught on the crane with its blade. In the series, a tragic event occurred immediately after the accident, and not in the fall of 1986, as it was in reality. The helicopter crew had to fill the roofs of buildings so that radioactive dust no longer spread through the air. Barrels of PVA glue were attached to the external suspension of the helicopter.
