The film takes
place over the course of one Saturday, 26 April 1986 – the day of the explosion
at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. As the government tries to cover
up the disaster, people go on with their lives. Not far from the site of
the disaster, a boisterous wedding celebration goes on, its guests
unaware of the deadly radiation. When a young Communist
Party functionary realizes what has happened, he rushes to
save his girlfriend and his friends. In the process, “life, its
banalities and fleeting joys, prove to be stronger than
death”. The disaster becomes a mere backdrop to the crucial
questions of human existence that face the heroes.
"The film is thoroughly documented – which is to say, I have
studied a great number of documents. The storyline is completely infused
with reality. Every minute is described exactly as it happened.
Some of the details are perfectly true to life. I carefully studied the
events on which the film is based, and read through witness accounts
and documents collected by journalists. The storyline itself, on the
other hand, is fictional, composed of various details. There was no
Party functionary. The man from Pulsar, the band that played at the
wedding party at the Party restaurant – he was real. I built a fictional
story out of documentary fragments. I knew full well that in order to
leap over reality, the film had to be grounded in something solid."
Aleksandr MINDADZE