It is a well done picture. Many people complain the movie is not about what they think it should be. The premise briefly described in one word: Chernobyl. So, that's the topic, people might expect to see a movie that tells about the effects of radiations or the government dealing with it. Well it's not.Valery, a young member of the party, finds out the truth about the dangers of the explosion that happened during the night, and tries to escape with a girl. They miss the train for a broken heel, and that's where the movie starts. People he meets find out about the explosion and the radiations, yet they do nothing, they go on with their ordinary life, having fun, drinking, dancing, singing. Valery is too busy worrying about surviving he forgets he's been dead for a long time, while others around him know it's probably too late for them, they just think about having a good time. It is not a picture about Chernobyl, it's about relationships and nightmarish situations: after the aforementioned broken heel, they go to a shop and buy new shoes, then they have to play music at a wedding, then they get drunk for losing all the money, then Valery has to deal with old disappointed friends... all while worrying about escaping. We're with Valery, every second, and we're thinking: this can't be happening. The setting is just an excuse. Colors are bright, everyone looks happy, yet there has been an explosion and everything is unstable (hand held camera). The hand held camera works well, and the way it's shot makes you feel as irritated and helpless as Valery must feel by being the only one who wants to try to do something. On the other hand, some scenes seem to drag for too long. The movie rather than showing what happened (being historically accurate), shows us how it must've felt: a horrible nightmare.It's not a great movie, but it's a good one and tries to be something different. It's not lazy or cheap filmmaking, that is enough to keep me interested.

(Minor spoilers!) The film starts off interestingly enough: some accident seems to have happened at the Tchernobyl nuclear power plant. We watch a young man trying to find out what happened, then following the car with the party officials on foot for miles. He sneaks his way into a meeting where he learns about the terrible accident. He eventually gets caught and is forced to accompany the leading party official to the site of the accident at reactor 4 to see for themselves. While their car is approaching the reactor, the radiation meter is going crazy. They realize that this is indeed a nuclear core meltdown and our hero desperately runs away as fast as he can. A few kilometers from the nuclear plant he meets another party official who tells him about the strange fascination the gaping hole of the exploded reactor had on him. He obviously received a lethal dose of radioactivity and soon starts to vomit. Our hero runs away from him.So much for the beginning of the film, and a very promising and intriguing one at that. The shaky grainy look and the bleached colors are similar to film footage from the late 80ies. Costumes and people seem sufficiently authentic, everything and everybody acts a little alien and strange but interesting and promising. This could well have been filmed shortly after the catastrophe, maybe even as a means to remedy the Communist party and to play down the horrible mistakes that occurred. Or it could turn into a gritty survival thriller, or provide deep insight into what really happened in Tchernobyl, and how people try to deal with all that.None of the above is the case in this film. The only visible aspect is a general sense of confusion and the overwhelming lethargy of all the people who see Tchernobyl burning, but somehow just don't seem to care. While most people just don't know better, our hero and a few others are aware of the nuclear danger, and yet they only make half-hearted attempts at getting away. The first reason that keeps our hero from fleeing is a broken heel on his girl's shoe so that they miss a train, then suddenly they find themselves shopping for new shoes, then recovering her passport from a wedding ceremony of our hero's best buddy, then playing music in a band he used to play with. Finally they get drunk and they end up...doing anything but fleeing.I have watched my share of Russian films, and many of them are quite slow, melancholic and somehow detached from reality. Most of them excel in visual style and contain intelligent social commentary. I don't mind the slowness and mysteriousness. I usually enjoy it, but not this time.While the film was interesting enough to keep me watching till the end, it was also ridiculous, boring and ultimately pointless. This film could have been so much better with only a few tweaks here and there, but the shallow characters and the unfocused plot kept it from going anywhere. All that remains for me is a sense of despair and confusion. I could not understand the behavior of the characters, therefore I couldn't relate to any of them. The film left me with a huge frown on my face and and a huge amount of disbelief and anger about the lost potential (and my wasted time!).I am sorry, but I cannot recommend this film to anybody except maybe Russian film enthusiasts.

The movie has a really interesting topic. And while I cannot vouch how accurate it portrays what happened and if it is "historically" correct (it's not that long ago, so it feels weird to call it historic), I can tell you, it could have used some spice. Actually quite a lot of spice to be truthful.As it is, the interesting themes and some tension that you might feel lurking around the corner (or anywhere else), seems to vaporize the minute our protagonist does .. nothing. While it is interesting to get a main character who is as lazy and passive as the one we have here, at least the movie (even if based on events) could have done with supporting characters who'd actually be active.Unfortunately you will not get this here. And while you should care for your main characters (at least one way or another), you might catch yourself wondering, when the movie will start.This is by no means a fault of the actors, who try hard. And it looks good too (rough good that is). But it's aimless and almost pointless. While that might actually be the point the filmmakers wanted to bring across, I wonder if I really needed a full length movie to get it ...