‘Chernobyl’ mini-series gets mixed reviews from disaster’s survivors pointing out inaccurate portrayal of the management
Critics and viewers on both sides of the Atlantic have lined up to acclaim ‘Chernobyl’, a dramatization of events surrounding the world’s worst nuclear accident – but the reactions of some of the survivors are less rose-tinted.
Sergii Parashyn, the then chairman of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s Communist Party Committee, said the HBO mini-series, screened this spring in the United States and Britain, depicted the initial disbelief at the scale of the disaster well. “I did not understand what was happening until dawn, until I saw that everything was destroyed,” he told journalists in the command bunker that was used as a crisis center after the explosion on April 26, 1986.
The fourth reactor in the Soviet plant north of Kiev exploded during a botched safety test, releasing more radiation into the Earth’s atmosphere than any other man-made event in history.
The accident killed 31 within weeks and forced tens of thousands to flee. The final toll of those killed by radiation-related illnesses such as cancer is subject to debate, and estimated by the World Health Organization to be in the thousands.
The series blames the excessive bureaucracy and secrecy of the Soviet Union, and Parashyn said there were flaws in the way it depicts the plant’s workers, in particular its management. Chernobyl’s Deputy Chief Engineer Anatoliy Dyatlov, interpreted by English actor Paul Ritter as tyrannical and arrogant, “did not behave as terribly with people as the show portrays,” Parashyn said. “He was harsh, yes, everyone obeyed him unquestioningly… But he was fair.”
Parashyn, appointed as the plant’s director from 1994 to 1998 and later chief of the 30km exclusion zone that surrounds it, said Viktor Bryukhanov, the man then in charge, was also inaccurately depicted. “Bryukhanov is a composed, calm, intelligent man, who never denied his responsibility,” he said.
This view is backed by Oleksiy Breus, the senior engineer of the 4th reactor in 1986. “The plant workers are shown as though they are scared of everything… This does not reflect reality,” Breus insisted. “They were very decisive, not one of the operators fled after the explosion.” However, he praised the portrayal of Chernobyl as a global, rather than a regional, catastrophe.
Its creator, Craig Mazin, said deviations from the historical record were undertaken in good faith.
“There’s a difference between the perfect way of doing something in terms of historical accuracy, and the perfect way of doing something so that people will watch it and appreciate what matters. You can’t have both, at least in that format,” he said.
REUTERS
Dnes se zaměříme na dva výrazy podobného, nikoli však stejného významu. Jedná se o during a within; oba tyto výrazy můžeme přeložit slovem během. Vyskytly se v těchto větách: „… exploded during a botched safety test…“ („…vybuchl během neodborně provedeného bezpečnostního testu…“). „The accident killed 31 within weeks…“ („Nehoda zabila 31 lidí během týdnů…“). Předložku during použijeme pro vyjádření akce/aktivity v průběhu nějaké doby, zatímco within označuje spíše (ohraničenou) dobu, během/do které něco proběhne.
Zvolte správný výraz:
It must have been stolen … the night. You have to finish the report … three days. People learned about the disaster … a few minutes. Millions of people died … the Second World War. Can you come back … fifteen minutes?
Řešení: during / within / within / during / within
SLOVÍČKA
depict vyobrazit, vylíčit
review recenze
survivor přeživší
acclaim vychvalovat
rose-tinted růžový
the then tehdejší
screen vysílat, promítat
disbelief pochybnost, nevíra
scale rozsah, míra
dawn svítání, rozbřesk
botched neodborně provedený
release uvolnit, vypustit
flee utéci, prchnout
toll počet obětí, ztráty
related související s
cancer rakovina
estimate odhadnout
blame vinit, obviňovat
flaw nedostatek, vada
harsh drsný, tvrdý
obey poslouchat, dodržovat
appoint jmenovat
composed vyrovnaný, klidný
deny popřít
praise chválit
in good faith v dobré víře
matter být důležitý
Source LN