- A story about a heroic fireman who worked as one of Chernobyl liquidators.
- Chernobyl: The Abyss is the first major Russian feature film about the aftermath of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, when hundreds of people sacrificed their lives to clean up the site of the catastrophe, and to successfully prevent an even bigger disaster that could have turned a large part of the European continent into an uninhabitable exclusion zone. The unlikely hero of the film is Alexey, a fireman at the power station. He is accompanied by Valery, an engineer, and Boris, a military diver, on a perilous mission to drain water from a reservoir under the burning reactor. They have no time for proper planning; water in the flooded corridors they will have to traverse is getting hotter by the hour as the molten reactor core seeps ever closer. Prepared to sacrifice their own lives in order to prevent an even greater catastrophe, the three men descend into the depths of the reactor building.
- Chernobyl: The Abyss is the first major Russian feature film about the aftermath of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, when hundreds of people sacrificed their lives to clean up the site of the catastrophe, and to successfully prevent an even bigger disaster that could have turned a large part of the European continent into an uninhabitable exclusion zone. The unlikely hero of the film is Alexey (Danila Kozlovsky), a fireman at the power station. Olga Savostina (Oksana Akinshina), a hairdresser is attracted to Alexey. They used to date 10 yrs ago, but have since drifted apart and met at a chance encounter at a hair dressing saloon in Chernobyl. Olga goes on a date with Alexey, but at the end of it Olga wont invite him home. So, Alexey barges in only to realize that Olga has a son named Alexey. Turns out Alexey is Alexey's son, but Olga wants to hide this fact from her son as she considers Alexey immature. Alexey is leaving for Kiev and wants Olga and her son to go with him, but she refuses.
April 26, 1986, 4th reactor of Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes. Alexey is first on the scene (he was on leave, but saw the explosion on hopped on the first fire truck he could find). Tigran (Samvel Tadevosian), firefighter has severe radiation burns after he was ordered to look into the open reactor to see whats going on. Tigran explains to Alexey that the reactor exploded, before he collapses and is taken away in an ambulance. Alexey goes to the roof to find his missing friend Yura Kondratyuk (Dmitry Matveyev), fireman. Alexey is exposed to nuclear fuel and other materials on the roof. Alexey brings Yura down, but is suffering from radiation burns himself. There is no room in the ambulance, so he starts driving it, in order to get away from the power plant. Alexey is admitted to the hospital and spends the night there
The next morning he is sought out by Dina (Ravshana Kurkova), a radiologist, who has been sent from Kiev to work with Alexey. Alexey's exposure was 14 rems and he was lucky. Dina asks Alexey to come with her as he knows all the pass-ways underneath the reactor. At a Govt committee, Alexey learns that there are pools of water under the reactors. If the fuel melts the concrete and drops into the water, it will instantly vaporize into steam and that means another release of radioactive particles all over Europe. A team needs to go under the reactor and open the sluice gates to drain the water. The Govt offers treatment in Swizterland and apartments in Moscow to those who take the assignments. The military wants to send 2 divers into boiling water, to turn the valves and open the gates (where 8 mins of exposure will kill the divers from radiation), but the civilians on the committee want to see if the electric motor that opens the gates is not flooded and can be used instead. Alexey refuses to help as he says he was on leave since yesterday and his entire team is dead anyways.. Alexey finds Olga and Alexey. Young Alexey has radiation sickness (he saw the explosion at his fishing trip with his friends and was exposed). The town is being evacuated and they are ordered to leave for Kiev. On the bus Young Alexey starts vomiting and Alexey realizes his duty to safeguard other mothers and daughters and sons and decides to go back to Chernobyl.
He meets the committee who is preparing for the dive. He meets the chairman Tropin (Igor Chernevich), and asks hi if young Alexey can be treated in Switzerland if Alexey decides to join the dive. Tropin agrees.
Alexey is accompanied by Valery (Filipp Avdeev), an engineer, Nikita (Maksim Blinov), Ivan (Aleksandr Alyabyev) and Boris (Nikolay Kozak), a military diver, on a perilous mission to drain water from a reservoir under the burning reactor. They have no time for proper planning; water in the flooded corridors they will have to traverse is getting hotter by the hour as the molten reactor core seeps ever closer. Nikita is hit by radioactive steam inside the passageways and dies. Valery refuses to go further, but is hit by Boris, who wants to complete the mission at all costs.
Prepared to sacrifice their own lives in order to prevent an even greater catastrophe, the three men descend into the depths of the reactor building. The wire spool drops into radioactive water and Boris bravely goes in to retrieve it. The wire spool is required to provide electricity to the motor to open the sluice gates. The trio is able to connect the wires, but for reason the motor wont start. The trio have already been exposed heavily to radioactivity. Boris says that the valve needs to be opened manually. Boris is distraught that Nikita has died and runs into the passageway directly underneath the reactor. Further ahead he sees the nuclear fuel that has melted the concrete of the reactor and dripped into the passageway below and is slowly edging towards the water pools. Boris is fatally exposed (700 rems), but manages to close the steel bulkheads, sealing the magma.
Valery and Alexey rescue Boris and get out of the tunnels and are rescued by the medical teams waiting at the entrance. Based on Alexey's report, army teams enter the reactor passageways to open the sluice gates. Boris dies. At the hospital, Valery is told that he will have to dive into the hot water to open the valve. Valery was an engineer at the plant and the only one with enough knowledge to find the valves accurately. Young Alexey is sent to Switzerland as promised for his treatment. Olga is not allowed to go with him and stays behind with Alexey. Alexey goes back into the reactor with Valery. Valery and Alexey enter the scalding 140 degrees water and get to the valves. The valves are stuck with rust and the duo battle with it, eventually wringing it lose and opening the sluice gates. Valery dies during the attempt and Alexey cant save him. Alexey survived as the water receded and he was rescued. Alexey is radioactive and kept in isolation. Young Alexey returns to Soviet Russia after 3 months.
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