this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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Asklemmy

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[–] Jordan117 46 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Assuming you mean the actual Soviet Union, Chernobyl was incredibly well-done.

[–] cheese_greater 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Where can I watch that?

Edit: found it, spank you very much. :)

Edit3: why did they kill the dogs? Radioactive?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (5 children)

In Soviet Russia, OP spanks you!

[–] cheese_greater 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

This is why I com to Lemmy ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

In Soviet Russia, drugs do you

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

In Soviet Russia, show/movie watches you!

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Nice, You now have 69 likes

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

In Soviet Russia, pubic hair dyes you

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

In Soviet Russia, train runs you!

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

In Soviet Russia, ad answers you

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Yeah that's why they had to put down the dogs

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago
[–] PhantomPhanatic 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Wholeheartedly second Chernobyl. It's an amazing show.

It shows the party dynamics of the decision making process for disaster response and the infighting that results really well. Not too much everyday life stuff but there is a bit.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

It’s was well done but deeply disingenuous about the effects of radiation in places. I loved the show, but for anybody else watching, it’s worth realising that it’s very exaggerated in places.

[–] colonial 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Off the top of my head, for those that are curious:

  • The show depicts radiation as similar to a contagion. In real life, once you strip and wash someone exposed to radioactive contaminants, they pose no danger to others.
  • The reactor was never in danger of turning into a nuke or rendering huge swathes of Europe uninhabitable. Nuclear explosions only happen under tightly engineered conditions. A big pile of molten reactor slag, while certainly dangerous, can't turn into a bomb.

However, the utter incompetence of the USSR is very accurate.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

The reactor was never in danger of turning into a nuke or rendering huge swathes of Europe uninhabitable. Nuclear explosions only happen under tightly engineered conditions. A big pile of molten reactor slag, while certainly dangerous, can’t turn into a bomb.

The danger wasn't that it would cause a nuclear explosion, it was that it would melt its way into a large reservoir of water underneath the reactor, instantly turning it all into steam, causing a massive explosion that would fling radioactive material over a much wider area

I don't know if there was a risk of that happening in reality, but that's how it was portrayed and explained in the show

[–] rtxn 23 points 9 months ago (2 children)

The Witness (A tanú in Hungarian) is a fantastic satire film about the life of the common man under Soviet socialism. It's required viewing for our literature classes. Watching it before learning more about the Soviet Union and Europe, and after, you pick up on completely different nuances of life at the time.

[–] alokir 2 points 9 months ago

I've been meaning to watch it for years, thanks for reminding me. I watched half of it when I was a kid but didn't really understand it yet.

Can I ask where you're from that it's a requirement in school? Or was it only in your school?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

How to access this movie? It’s not even listed in IMDb

[–] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Go ask on lemmygrad. Kinda serious.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Might depend what you mean by ‘things’, there’s Chinese reality tv shows with English subs, an interesting one which got popular last year was about a local police station.

It was bizarre because it had cutesy graphics and sound effects overlaid with a guy being questioned for sexual assault of a minor

[–] cheese_greater 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Thats sounds...crazy. Any links?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Search ‘The Guardians of Jiefangxi’ or ‘Guarding Jiefangxi’ on the usual streaming sites and you should find it

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago

Thank you for bringing much honor to my question

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

A good documentary, on the USSR though not modern Russia, is The Human Face of Russia. You can find it on YouTube. It's Australian as well so it's interesting seeing a look into the Soviet Union from the point of view of a country that is aligned with the US but without so much Red Scare propaganda.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

In terms of dramas you may find In the Name of the People interesting.

For documentaries, I've recently seen mentions of How Yukong Moved the Mountains, although I haven't yet found a place to watch it.

There's also a large collection of leftist movies which includes fictional dramas and documentaries about USSR and PRC over on hexbear. https://hexbear.net/post/9615

Edit: CGTN also has some good documentaries on modern and historical events.

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Where can I watch that one?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

In the Name of the People is on YouTube.

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago

Ya but no english subtitles

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

A good documentary, on the USSR though not modern Russia, is The Human Face of Russia. You can find it on YouTube. It's Australian as well so it's interesting seeing a look into the Soviet Union from the point of view of a country that is aligned with the US but without so much Red Scare propaganda.

[–] LeftRedditOnJul1 7 points 9 months ago

The Lives of Others is a movie about life under surveillance in the DDR. Maybe not quite what you asked, but it's very well made

[–] EyesEyesBaby 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There are quite a few documentaries about North Korea, they're not that hard to find, and they really amaze you when you watch them.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yes, but North Korea is something else. Cuba should be more representative of what the Soviet block was like.

[–] EisFrei 4 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Not a series but Death of Stalin is a super funny movie that is actually closer to reality than one might think.

[–] cheese_greater 1 points 9 months ago

Ya, can't believe Steve Buschemi's innit. I'm deceased!

[–] Cloudygrey 2 points 9 months ago

A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich

Its a movie based on a book by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, about a man in a russian gulag. You can find it on Youtube.

[–] PP_BOY_ 1 points 9 months ago

Eh, it's heavily dramatized and was recorded in English but HBO's Chernobyl miniseries might be worth checking out if you're interested in things like one-party rule and conspiracies in authoritarian regimes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

TIL China is a one-party system with English subs

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

If you want a fairly recent on the group English perspective then check out the YouTuber Bald and Bankrupt. China is harder as most YouTubers there are paid propaganda. Maybe check out YouTubers laowhy86 and serpentza as they lived in China for over a decade and then had to run. Interesting takes for all 3 above. What I find most interesting is that most of their criticisms can also be levied on their home countries if you can get past the fog.

[–] cheese_greater 2 points 9 months ago

I don't even mind like actual footage that serves as CCP propoganda or or if theres a reenactment type show like how the Sopranos obviously isn't a recording of a real mafia gang, but rather so close that actual gangsters wondered who talked, aha.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Laowhy and serpentza are racist dirtbags grifting off all the China hate that's everywhere in the west. They had to run for a reason, and that reason was that they were and are spreading hate speech.

Katherine's Journey to the East, Li Jingjing, or Daniel Dumbrill will much more accurately present life in the different parts of China.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 9 months ago

For a fictional world check out Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.