Chernobyl Heart (2003)

"Chernobyl Heart" is a 39-minute documentary film from 2003. The director is Maryann DeLeo and as she won an Academy award for her work here, this is still her most known and most successful work more than a decade later. The title is the perfect summary of this film. It is about the reactor catastrophe in Chernobyl, but not really about what exactly happened back then (this has been elaborated on enough times), but about what things looked like back in 2003 and how the catastrophe still had an impact on so many people's lives. The "heart" in the title refers to heart defects that are still a huge problem for new-born babies because of what the catastrophe did to their mothers and it's the prime example how this explosion he be seen as so much opposing life that it still destroys the health and lives of people who were war from existing when it actually happened. Mostly in the first half, the film also focuses on other transformations to the human body that feel really painful to watch. It is a very sad documentary, but also one where we can learn something that we have to do all we can to avoid such an event in the future because it will have an impact for decades. But it is also somewhat uplifting to see these doctors work so hard for every life despite not having the best working conditions (especially in terms of money) themselves. The fact how relevant this topic is 30 years after it happened is shown by the fact that there are still new documentaries coming out about the Chernobyl Catastrophe these days. You can see them if you really are interested in the subject. This one here is close to a must-see though and the Oscars got it right. Do not miss out. And on a final note: If you want to see a good fictional live action film dealing with this subject, go for the Oscar-nominated short film "The Door" from 2008.

These days EVERYBODY has some vague idea of what the Chernobyl disaster is, so I won't spend a bunch of time explaining. Basically it was the meltdown of a nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, resulting in the town of Chernobyl being evacuated and known for being one of the world's deadliest places.Sounds like something straight out of a horror movie, right? Well, as disturbing as the accident itself was, the effects on the victims of Chernobyl, mainly children, is far more sad than scary.Radiation can cause everything from cancer to poisoning to cerebral palsy to adverse mutations. Chernobyl Heart shows this, how good people have had their lives changed badly by this horrible tragedy. Many of the children affected are orphans, abandoned because of their birth defects. It's extremely sad but an unfortunate truth. The strange thing is, Ukraine is not a bad place, neither was Chernobyl, this is just a result of human error. The same thing could happen in Canada, China, the United States, Great Britain, anywhere.But Chernobyl Heart offers a light at the end of the tunnel. These children are no longer just "victims", they now have a voice.Recently the 2012 horror movie Chernobyl Diaries came out, and it was a disgusting and inaccurate representation of a town where people once were happy, decent, hardworking human beings. Chernobyl is not a horror story, and this amazing documentary tells the honest truth of the matter. I definitely recommend it, it's totally worth your time.

It says a lot for the ignorance of mainstream film culture that this Academy Award Winning Doc Short has generated only three user comments on IMDb and zero external comments. Has anybody seen this film?It is also bothersome in a way that the film is in HBO distribution because of the context of exploitative fare HBO deals in---all the sex documentaries Sheila Nevins puts out. And then this, sandwiched in-between.The imagery is beyond exploitative; it so far over the line and yet obviously true. You could find these birth defects almost everywhere in the world but only in isolation. Here, they are in terrible concentration and the kids are suffering in terrible conditions in terrible state hospitals, mental wards and orphanages. All you Ronald Reagan boosting Americans who think 'freedom' won the day, 'won' the Cold War, look at what you have reduced Russia and its sister states to, just look at this and think what massive Lies you grew up under in the 1970's and 1980's and what they have brought about and become.The next Chernobyl might be caused by internal terrorism in the US, but it will likely be, as the film says, Chernobyl itself. 97% of the radiation is still concentrated there, says the film.If I seem angry it is from watching the film, the fallout, pardon the ugly metaphor, from the film. Why this is not a full-length film I do not understand. Why are their no officials interviewed, why is there no government response and responsibility? Why is no one from the UN interviewed? Why is the scope so small? Because the film telescopes to discuss the living conditions and medical defects only, it is 40 minutes of nothing but suffering and the small attempts to curtail it, to fix one problem, the 'Chernobyl Heart' defect that seems so tiny a victory in its symbolism.It is one of the hardest and most necessary pieces of film I've ever watched. But the content is far too important to be compressed into such a painful frame, so stripped of context.Think of how much the world could change if all the major TV networks in the world agreed to show this in prime time, simultaneously, without commercials.When I was growing up in the hippiefied 70's, all the grade seven kids in my school were made to watch "Do You Love This Planet?". (Somehow, I don't think it was on the curriculum.) The most lasting, and sensible, propaganda experiment of my childhood. It stuck. There is no reason for this film not be similarly shown.

I just saw this for the second time and it is a truly haunting film. Only about 45 minutes long, I have watched it on HBO once and then recorded it to show to my husband later. It filled me with such sadness and shock that I just had to share the experience. I had no idea that the effects of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl in 1986 were so devastating and so long lasting. It seems to be that this whole situation and condition of this area is kept rather under wraps and silent. If everybody knew about these people and their lives now, I would hope more could and would be done to help. If you want to be informed, touched and moved very deeply, please watch this documentary.