The DVD and original Blu-ray sets of HBO’s 2019 five-episode miniseries about the horrific 1986 nuclear accident in the Soviet Union have been available for some time; this newly-released 4K Ultra High Definition Blu-ray, which also includes a digital transfer code, requires four discs rather than their two and comes at substantially higher cost. In any format, the series represents an extraordinary achievement.
It follows the disaster that occurred when a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located near Pripyat in northern Ukraine, ruptured on April 26, 1986, during a test intended to prove that it could compensate for an electrical power outage. An attempt to shut down the reactor when the test miscarried caused a nuclear chain reaction, an explosion, a fire in the exposed reactor core, and the release of extensive radioactive contamination into the air.
Craig Mazin’s script focuses on the desperate effort in the days and weeks that followed to contain the effects of the accident and understand what caused it. Dramatically the focus is on Valery Legasov (Jared Harris), the scientist tasked with leading the mission, and Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgård), the Communist party functionary assigned to oversee the work in collaboration with him, and the structure is that of a David-and-Goliath struggle, with the two men stymied by an ossified political system dedicated to protecting the illusion of a regime incapable of error rather than the welfare of the people it claimed to represent.
Thus, on the one hand, it is a tale of how their heroic efforts were often frustrated by powerful officials reluctant to admit the scope of the catastrophe and do everything necessary to deal with it. On the other, it takes the form of a detective story in which Legasov must overcome a culture of secrecy to uncover design flaws in the RBMK-type reactors that might lead to similar disasters in other Soviet nuclear plants unless swiftly corrected.
As many have pointed out, this overarching scenario leads to deviations from the historical record for dramatic effect—the participation of Legasov in the 1987 trial where local officials were found guilty of mismanagement, for example, or the creation of another character, a principled female scientist played by Emily Watson, who actually represents a composite of dozens of Legasov’s colleagues. But the power of the miniseries, which also shows the impact of the disaster on the surrounding population, is undeniable, and its precision of technical detail is extraordinary.
Though it offers no bonus features beyond those on the previous issues—seven short featurettes: Inside the Episodes (13 min.); What Is Chernobyl?, a thumbnail history lesson (2 min.); Meet the Key Players, on the three lead characters (6 min.); Behind the Curtain, on director Johan Renck (2 min.); Script to Screen, on the script (2 min.); and Pivotal Moment: The Trial (2 min.)—this 4K Ultra HD set is highly recommended to those who want the series in the most technologically advanced format.