User Reviews

Decent way to kill a few hours. Story was good and well acted for the most part. Alittle low budget set wise. Is it bad I wished Igor was the victor instead of Vitas. If you bored it's worth a watch.

(There are no spoilers, I always mark it that way.)

I watched this on Amazon Prime. I have watched several Russian and/or Russian speaking shows on Prime and they all had subtitles (I don't understand Russian except for select words and phrases), this did not. I don't know if the subtitles weren't turning on for me or if it just didn't have them? I watched it anyway. This could be a stereotype and/or bias or it could be those from one culture trying to read the body language of another culture; I don't know, but the characters seemed emotionless, at times. It's difficult to read body language, voice tone, etc., when the emotional aspect seems non-existent. So, I then had to go by sets, direction, composition etc., for the mood: difficult but not impossible. There was emotions, children playing and laughing, merriment and the like but I'm talking about the deeper tone because one is supposed to be invested, somehow, in the overall story. (subtitles would have helped.)

None of this deterred me; I was going to watch it and try to figure out the story though based on title alone: not too difficult. One can read the basic synopsis for each episode here so I won't really talk about individual episodes (especially if and would get it wrong in interpretation) but one doesn't need to really understand what one is speaking to understand what they are saying if everything else plays out fine.

The composition was mildly okay. It felt soft and uninviting. And, it would cut off at unexpected times then start up again for, I guess, an emotional scene. Its timing seemed off, at times. It also seemed composed by different people. It didn't sound the same in one scene to the next. The sets were normal, tearing, and sort of blah as if no effort was put into them rather more on location without dressing (except in the last two episodes when it took place in the present day.) The video quality was below average, crisp, but below average. I came upon this Mini-Series from an outside review that gave it high praise for the cinematography; I don't know what they were watching but it couldn't have been this. It barely takes place outside of buildings (except in the second half of the series), the make-up was okay but not great, the explosion (which they emphasised) was non-existent and it reminded me of the "Titanic" film in 1997 -- in it was a love story of a girl with two guys fighting over her (the only thing that reminded me of the other.)

I agree with the other reviewer here: something to watch when bored. The HBO mini-series is far more superior. Yes, bigger budget but also better story.

Unfortunately most the main characters with the type radiation exposure and burns they faced would died within weeks if not years. Igor would have been dead within 5 years, and why does he age much more than the others.

Want fact, watch documentaries or the HBO drama. HBO has no reason to hide things or cover up the Soviet Unions mistakes.