Leonid Korzh is truly fortunate to be alive. Not just a resident of Prypiat, he was also a so-called “liquidator,” one of the first responders charged with implementing the evacuation—once it was finally ordered. Indeed, it took a while, with no official warning from the Soviet authorities to at least stay inside. Of course, as a police officer, one of his most pressing assignments was to secure his station’s arms. All the while, he had a pregnant wife at home to worry about.
Chernobyl remains a gaping sore the Soviets conveniently abandoned in Ukraine’s lap. According to the film, only 300 of the eleven hundred-some villagers of nearby Kopachi survived. Those are bad odds. Clearly, it was not just the radiation, but also the Communists’ spin and denial that contributed to the staggering death toll.
Writer-director Ludwigs, in close collaboration with producer Tetyana Chernyavska, has crafted an artful fusion of animation, archival photographs, and contemporary documentary footage. It definitely evokes a sense of the bad old Soviet days, when assignment to a nuclear power plant’s bedroom community was considered a plum assignment in contrast to the Siberian backwater Korzh had previously been stationed in. Yet, it also captures the personal drama of a family in a time of crisis. Needless to say, it does not paint a particularly flattering picture of the Soviet government’s response then, nor of the Russian regime’s treatment of its permanently ailing liquidators today. Hardly shocking, but it is a fact worth underscoring nonetheless.
