Chernobyl Part 3

This episode of Chernobyl did not disappoint, much like the previous ones. A key group of individuals that appear are miners who help with the ongoing works at Chernobyl, primarily to set up a heat exchange for the core. An interesting scene that is shared is one where they ask for fans to cool themselves but are denied this request – so they work bare naked. While it may sound disturbing to us nowadays, it really highlights the severity of the situation and the kinds of sacrifices that needed to be made. One of the most powerful shots I can remember watching this semester is where a man in a clean, polished suit comes to a local mine to inform the miners they are needed to help at the nuclear plant. After ultimately agreeing, each and every miner pats the man in the suit, dirtying the suit with coal dust. While this can be interpreted in many different ways, I saw it as a man being humbled from his position of Minister of Coal – he dresses clean and bright while his workers dress dark and filthy. I also saw this as a way of the miners showing the man how they are all in this together, even if he has a fancy title and an expensive suit. Thus, spreading a lot of coal dust on him showed his fall from a wealthy authority figure into a regular person, like the miners who would be sacrificing their lives at Chernobyl.

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