Chernobyl, HBOmax.
Had the pleasure of watching this with someone who lived through the events in question and her reactions were fascinating.
What they got right:
Look and feel of the Soviet Union (set design) was almost perfect. Some minor issues - a scene has girls playing while wearing a traditional religious uniform (kinda like a scene where kids are playing in their Communion outfits), but otherwise, “wow”.
The people. They all looked right and they had the properly beat-down look about them.
The intimidation. I remarked to her that it seems that Soviet power was based openly on intimidation and the only way to advance was to take one’s intimidation and become more intimidating in return. She said “that’s exactly how it was”.
What they got wrong:
Despite the above, Soviet society (as shown) wasn’t callous enough. For example, mothers were never given their newborns to cuddle, only 10 minutes to nurse, twice a day. The baby is taken away and the mother is left to stay, alone, in her hospital room, no nurse checks, nothing. The scene in the hospital with the parents and children earned a literal guffaw out of her.
State Soviet party officials never addressed groups of working men. Their orders were handed down to local party officials who then addressed the men. So the scene in Tula, with the blue suited guy and the miners, would never have happened.
Fathers never played with, or even held, babies. Just wasn’t done in 1991 Ukraine, definitely wasn’t done in 1986 Ukraine.
If anyone was going to perform an investigation like the one performed throughout the story, with one person traveling and interviewing people to get “the truth”, it would have undoubtedly been a man. No if, ands, or buts.
However, no one would even think to perform a fact-based investigation, the idea is silly. The goal always was to cover your ass, to make sure you avoid blame via avoiding accountability. “You would even do this in the fields”, referencing the need to show neither competence nor incompetence in doing anything, even to the task of harvesting potatoes every September. Just a base level of mediocrity.
An excellent show, well worth the time, and from one who was there, remember: the reality was worse.