HBO documentary about the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986. I was fascinated by the actual events that they managed to document; sad and disturbing images. If you have HBO you might find this interesting. I see there are a couple of "full length" versions on Youtube also.
The horror is how the Russian government lied and covered up the potential harm to their own people, and of course to the world. I really wasn't aware that this incident was a catalyst for the collapse of the USSR. "Could Chernobyl have caused the first, most fundamental crack in the Soviet state and led to its collapse? That might sound like an audacious proposal, but it’s been advanced by none other than the man who oversaw the dismantling of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. He states flatly that the Chernobyl explosion was “perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union.” "Chernobyl, then, represented a fundamental shift in the relationship between the Soviet citizenry and the state. Before the explosion, most Soviets were not discontented dissidents; they believed in the Soviet system, forgave its flaws, and hoped for a better future within its confines. But after Chernobyl, the system seemed potentially unredeemable—and actively dangerous. In the early days of glasnost, stories of Stalin’s mass murders decades earlier slowly bubbled to the fore, but those generally receded, so far removed were they from everyday life. After Chernobyl, though, every citizen’s safety was at stake." https://slate.com/technology/2013/0...uclear-catastrophe-to-undermine-the-ussr.html
It changed my opinion of Gorbachev as I thought he was a decent man. Overall, the document was sickening at best learning the Soviet's disregard for human life. When the soldiers were on the rooftop shoveling the radioactive coal from the rooftop with lead plates and plastic hard hats, I felt I was watching Monty Python. Why not suit a few with professional radiation protective clothing and use a small or large bulldozer?! The total dead per the Soviets was 31 versus a couple hundred thousand. I too was not aware of the magnitude of the lies resulting in the collapse of the USSR. Sadly, the lies continue.