The April 26, 1986 explosion of the Number 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is often considered to be the worst nuclear disaster in history, one that has been covered countless times. Over the years, the disaster has inspired a relatively accurate HBO series, been referenced on Stranger Things, and been the source of all kinds of great and highly-rated documentaries detailing the tragic event and what happened in the area of northern Ukraine devastated by the catastrophic episode.
If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about the incident and its fallout, you’ve come to the right place, as we have put together a list of documentaries about Chernobyl that are eye-opening, to say the least. Here are informative and entertaining chronicles of the earth-shattering tragedy.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes (2022)
The Director: James Jones
Documentary Length: 97 Minutes
What It's About: One of the best documentaries on Max, a collection of archival, and mostly never-before-seen footage captured in the immediate aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster that pieces together the initial response and fallout from the devastating accident.
Why It's Worth Checking Out: Though stark and dramatic, there is some beauty in the simplicity of Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes with its stunning and sometimes unsettling visuals and narration from those who experienced the tragic events through their own eyes.
Chernobyl: Hour By Hour (2020)
The Director: Piers Garland
Documentary Length: 51 Minutes
What It's About: An hour-by-hour (and later year-by-year) chronicle of the Chernobyl accident featuring a combination of archival footage and dramatized scenes showing how everything went down on April 26, 1986.
Why It's Worth Checking Out: Chernobyl: Hour by Hour isn’t the most in-depth documentary on the subject, but this historical documentary does a good job of providing a brief overview of the disaster and how it changed the world.
Chernobyl: Secrets, Lies And The Untold Stories (2022)
The Director: Andy Webb
Documentary Length: 85 Minutes
What It's About: Following the release of declassified documents about the Chernobyl disaster, long untold stories are explored in great detail as the world attempts to make sense of the incident and how it could have been prevented.
Why It's Worth Checking Out: Chernobyl: Secrets, Lies, and the Untold Stories is a fast-paced and enlightening experience that offers a lot of information about the infamous accident, including testimonies by survivors that have long been left out of the official record.
Building Chernobyl's MegaTomb (2017)
The Director: Martin Gorst
Documentary Length: 52 Minutes
What It's About: In the fallout of the Chernobyl explosion, a massive sarcophagus was built around the ruins of the nuclear facility to contain the lethal radiation. Decades later, with the structure in a state of disrepair, engineers race to construct a stronger and more advanced “MegaTomb.”
Why It's Worth Checking Out: If you want to have a better understanding of the gravity of the accident decades after the fact, and how teams of engineers have remained committed to protecting the land and people, this fascinating episode of PBS’s NOVA will do the trick.
The Russian Woodpecker: Chernobyl & War In Ukraine (2015)
The Director: Chad Gracia
Documentary Length: 81 Minutes
What It's About: A documentary following Fedor Alexandrovich in his attempt to get a better understanding of the Chernobyl disaster and its supposed connections to the Soviet over-the-horizon radio antenna known as the Duga.
Why It's Worth Checking Out: The Russian Woodpecker: Chernobyl & War in Ukraine is both a documentary about the infamous disaster and the rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine in the mid-2010s.
Life After Chernobyl (2016)
The Director: Chiara Bellati
Documentary Length: 42 Minutes
What It's About: Though the area around the Chernobyl nuclear plant has largely been abandoned by people for nearly 40 years, the animal population has thrived in the dangerous and radiated landscape.
Why It's Worth Checking Out: Life After Chernobyl, though about the disaster, is very much a stunning nature documentary in that it shows the resilience of life, even in one of the most dangerous locations on the planet.
Chernobyl: The Invisible Enemy (2021)
The Director: Roxane Schlumberger
Documentary Length: 57 Minutes
What It's About: A collection of archival recordings and drone footage from the Exclusion Zone in modern times paints a picture of the true cost of the Chernobyl disaster, both on the local people and the once vibrant landscape.
Why It's Worth Checking Out: If you want a quick documentary that will help you get a better understanding of the severity of the accident, Chernobyl: The Invisible Enemy, one of the best streaming titles on Pluto TV, will do the trick.
The Babushkas Of Chernobyl
The Director: Anne Bogart, Holly Morris
Documentary Length: 70 Minutes
What It's About: A group of women refuse the leave the so-called “Dead Zone” after the Chernobyl disaster, where their families have lived for centuries.
Why It's Worth Checking Out: While so many other documentaries talk about the death, destruction, and disaster of the accident, The Babushkas of Chernobyl has a more uplifting tone with its story about a group of tough old ladies who refuse to back down.
Hunting The Radioactive Beasts Of Chernobyl
The Director: Shane Smith
Documentary Length: 9 Minutes
What It's About: Vice co-founder Shane Smith travels to the site of the Chernobyl disaster to take part in a rather unique hunting trip where he’s told he’ll encounter radioactive boars.
Why It's Worth Checking Out: Long before Vice landed news shows on HBO and later Showtime, the media company had a Vice Guide to Travel series which included a 2007 episode titled “Hunting Radioactive Beasts of Chernobyl,” a fun yet informative short documentary about hunting in the Exclusion Zone and drinking lots and lots of alcohol.
BONUS: Chernobyl (2019)
The Director: Johan Renck
Number Of Episodes: 5
What It's About: HBO’s landmark historical limited series explores the Chernobyl disaster like never before with an emotionally stirring and intense docudrama about one of the darkest days of the Soviet Union.
Why It's Worth Checking Out: Though Chernobyl is technically not a documentary, the Emmy Award-winning series is something that anyone interested in the topic needs to watch at least once.
This is just a small portion of the great Chernobyl documentaries that can be found on some of the best streaming services, but this is a great place to start.
