Down the Tubes is a (semi) regular feature where we, the SAW staff, share our favorite movie-related videos with the Wasteland.
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More than a few commenters have noted (myself included) that Craig Mazin’s HBO series Chernobyl plays more like a horror film than an historical drama. The horror of it all is made worse by the fact that the show is a dramatization of events that actually happened 34 years ago in the former Soviet Union.
That a nuclear meltdown would be horrifying isn’t surprising ; there are plenty of movies that deal with the very real consequences of nuclear fallout. What is interesting is how Chernobyl manages to convey that horror through human drama – and without relying on the grotesque to convey that horror to its audience.
Savage Books’ video ‘Why We Couldn’t Stop Watching Chernobyl‘ investigates how the HBO series, and the book it’s based on, ‘Voices from Chernobyl’, relays the horror of this very real human drama to viewers almost 35 years removed from the historical event, and somehow manages to make it relevant even all these years later.
What did you think about Savage Book’ video? Have you seen Chernobyl? Familiar with the historical event? What are your thoughts on the show, the history, and how it relates or doesn’t relate to the present?
Let us know in the comments below!
