First of all this movie isn't at all a copycat of or competitor for the HBO show Chernobyl.
The plot is obviously built around the same real historical event but similarities end right around there.
It has a whole different approach really being not a grand and comprehensive drama about the catastrophe but more a story about a vagabond reluctant to commit to anything learning about dedication, selflessness and sacrifice in the time of hardship and becoming a full fledged hero in the end.
A rather well written character arc.
Now the way the USSR of the 1980's is presented is typical of more recent Russian movies meaning a tad romanticized showing a cleaner, happier, more modern, more free country than it was in reality but not overly so and there is still plenty of honesty and criticism involved in the narrative too.
All in all this is a decent movie, not propaganda and not a rip off.
The plot is obviously built around the same real historical event but similarities end right around there.
It has a whole different approach really being not a grand and comprehensive drama about the catastrophe but more a story about a vagabond reluctant to commit to anything learning about dedication, selflessness and sacrifice in the time of hardship and becoming a full fledged hero in the end.
A rather well written character arc.
Now the way the USSR of the 1980's is presented is typical of more recent Russian movies meaning a tad romanticized showing a cleaner, happier, more modern, more free country than it was in reality but not overly so and there is still plenty of honesty and criticism involved in the narrative too.
All in all this is a decent movie, not propaganda and not a rip off.