This was a film I watched in one of my anthropology classes at the UofA, spring of '98. Not even 'Schindler's List' made me cry as much as this film. Don't get me wrong, 'Schindler's List' is gut wrenchingly serious, and made my heart ache, but it happened long before I was born. The accident at Chernobyl sticks out in my mind not only because of its horrific nature, the multitude of lies that followed, but also because it happened in my lifetime.
Viewing this film one begins to barely understand the perpetual after shocks of Chernobyl. From the cycle of the contaminated land, the poisoned grass that grows on it, the cows who eat the toxic grass, to the people who eat and drink the tainted cow products, and all the illness that stems from the radiation. Illness that the government, at the time, refused to step up and recognize, and help treat.
A bulk of the film is shot right after Chernobyl blew its top. Meaning that not only are the people being filmed receiving more than their share of radiation, but those filming do as well. After a while, you begin to think, why on earth are these people filming this? Normally when you watch a film, fiction or non, you understand what is happening to the characters, but in real life the actors and the rest of the crew are fine. But everything you see in 'Children of Chernobyl' has been contaminated by radiation. There is no way to get away from it.
Be sure to have a box of tissues, and maybe some paper towels when you watch this. You are going to need it.
Viewing this film one begins to barely understand the perpetual after shocks of Chernobyl. From the cycle of the contaminated land, the poisoned grass that grows on it, the cows who eat the toxic grass, to the people who eat and drink the tainted cow products, and all the illness that stems from the radiation. Illness that the government, at the time, refused to step up and recognize, and help treat.
A bulk of the film is shot right after Chernobyl blew its top. Meaning that not only are the people being filmed receiving more than their share of radiation, but those filming do as well. After a while, you begin to think, why on earth are these people filming this? Normally when you watch a film, fiction or non, you understand what is happening to the characters, but in real life the actors and the rest of the crew are fine. But everything you see in 'Children of Chernobyl' has been contaminated by radiation. There is no way to get away from it.
Be sure to have a box of tissues, and maybe some paper towels when you watch this. You are going to need it.