Saturday, April 16, 2011

Remembering Vladimir Shevchenko

Russian filmmaker Vladimir Shevchenko went into the irradiated zone and was allowed complete access to film the workers as they attempted to clean up the destruction left by the explosion.

Wearing only a surgical mask - the same as most of the workers at the disaster - at one point he filmed the crash of an army helicopter while filming from the roof of the reactor, subjecting himself to lethal doses of radiation.

Shevchenko later compiled his footage into a film entitled "Chernobyl: A Chronicle of Difficult Weeks" which was immediately suppressed by the Soviet government. He later died from the radiation he exposed himself to, although he is not among the official casualties of the accident.

These scenes were not included in the final cut of the film and you can see Shevchenko in one of them on the roof of the reactor with his camera gear: