An excited voice of the announcer. In the foreground - flying computer debris blue-red, surrounded by a frankly computer flame. Numerous talking heads. Quick change of staff. Running people. Panic, scream. What is this, Barrymore?
The next issue of the documentary series “Seconds before the disaster”, in which we are waiting for another exciting story about the next man-made disaster, whether it is the crash of the airliner “Concord”, the fall of suspension bridges in an American hotel, the collapse of a supermarket in Seoul, the sinking of the submarine “Kursk”, the accident at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima or the explosion on the platform “Deepwater Horizon”, with a detailed description of the events that preceded it.
What can I say about this documentary series? Sit, watch and enlighten. However, the creators of the series, setting an ambitious goal to convey to the viewer the entire sequence of events that led to the disaster, have successfully achieved their own - each series is perceived not just as a screened Wikipedia, but as a separate full-fledged film (so densely the series are saturated with all sorts of technical details, documentary filming and reconstruction of a real incident).
This documentary series is simply a must-see for all those who at one time read Arthur Haley, Robert Byrne and Grigory Medvedev. To all those who can read phrases like “It could happen that the fittings on the fifty-sixth profile, just where the T-support shoulder begins, were so tightly welded that concrete did not even penetrate there” or “A round plate of upper biological protection with fragments of thin stainless tubes sticking out in all directions (KCCC system) lay at some angle on the reactor shaft.” Unlike many other similar documentaries, Seconds Before the Disaster, allocating a small part of the issue to the actual process of the disaster by an external observer, concentrates as much as possible on a detailed reconstruction of the chain of events that led to it. Perhaps not so detailed that the viewer began to yawn, but enough to make it clear how each of the disasters is determined by a set of insignificant details that no one pays attention to.
I definitely recommend this documentary series to watch. And I would have put her 9 out of 10 if it weren't for two remarks:
1. Flashing in some cases antediluvian computer graphics. Honestly, even for the beginning of zero, it looks frankly poor, especially against the background of phrases like “Last computer effects” (phrases that because of this begin to sound different, with a play of words like “We have the latest drugs and the latest doctors”). In the releases since 2008, the graphics are more or less at the level, but the issues of 2004-2008 are alas.
2. The Chernobyl issue. Honestly, this issue not only deserves to take the last place among all the documentary series “Secrets before the disaster” – it is hardly the worst documentary I have seen. I do not know how the creators of the series managed to release such a thing, but it is difficult to imagine worse than this issue: 15-20 times repetitions of the video series, combined with a squalid presentation of events and helpless reconstruction (against the background of good reconstructions in the rest of the series), suggest that the issue was created by student trainees counting on beer. All the other issues are brilliant. But this? Directors of editing for this should just drive in the neck.
For all the obvious drawbacks (obsessive replays, some protractedness), the series looks in one breath, especially the series dedicated to plane crashes. After watching about 20 episodes, he formulated three thoughts for himself.
One. An ideal society cannot be built, not because the world, as Christian thinkers say, “is in evil,” nor because man is imperfect and will inevitably stumble somewhere. It's just that this world is such a complex system that no one will ever calculate all the possible situations. It is enough to watch the series about the crash of the Concorde, where the confluence of events seems simply unique, and the deterioration of the situation at each stage could stop, but it was those unlikely events that eventually led to the crash of the plane that happened. Perhaps this can be called the logic of catastrophe.
Two. In no situation is blame primarily on the people who participated in the events. It seems that this is not the bias of the filmmakers, although there is a certain leftism, but a feature of Western thinking. Individuals who are indirectly responsible for disasters will not be able to prevent them in the future. Guilty in most cases is a corporation to which, for example, dispatchers, or employees of a chemical plant, which was denied by three security systems at once and a leak occurred. Money and influence to correct the situation has only a corporation, which, taking care of its income and reputation, modernizes its equipment, improves the training of employees, etc. And the state, which ideally should have only representative functions, remains completely aside.
Three. National identity is based on the legal system used in a country. People get used to behaving one way or another, depending on how their responsibilities are determined, and within a few centuries this system of behavior begins to define mentality. The system of case law, or, as it is called, Anglo-Saxon, in this sense, the most perfect. Firstly, it is corrected and improved by itself, and, secondly, such justice encourages to perceive each case as unique and eliminate errors at the systemic level, rather than looking for the perpetrator, since the specific circumstances that distinguish this crime from another with the same outcome are important in sentencing. Roughly speaking, the head of the corporation knows that in the event of a disaster, he will not be convicted not for the fact that through his fault people died, but for the fact that one dispatcher worked at night instead of two who failed to cope with the work, as a result of which people died. This forces us to calculate the situation, and in the event of a tragedy, first of all, eliminate all its causes.
The film leads to a banal conclusion: the standard of living of the people is determined primarily by the degree of independence and the quality of justice. But the creation of such a system in Russia is unlikely to succeed, since the nation (that is, the national consciousness) has been formed for centuries, and we are probably too late to start such an experiment. Moreover, once again we do not seek to call the Varangians.
Prologue. For those who are seriously interested in disasters, a documentary series from National Geographic will be a real find. Man-made disasters are mixed with natural disasters in a ratio of about 3 to 1. A great variety (crashes, explosions, military operations, fires, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, collisions; sea, rail, air disasters), interesting narrative, fascinating investigation and a lot of useful information.
Tragedy. Each of the 45-minute series can be divided into two main parts. The first is devoted to the description of a tragic incident, minute by minute, and closer to the catastrophe and the second-by-second recovery of events. In the arsenal of the creators, not only documentary photos and video materials, stories of participants in the events, but also modern computer graphics that allow you to see the picture of the disaster as a whole and look into its very heart. This gives a clear understanding of what happened. What used to have blurred contours, then after watching this film acquires completely clear outlines. The main criteria for getting an incident in this film are great resonance and non-triviality, the mystery of the case.
Investigation. The investigation, which is devoted to the second half of each series, is a real highlight of the project. The creators either reproduce in detail the official investigation of the causes of the disaster, or conduct their own with the involvement of leading experts. The investigation always ends with a clear, unambiguous conclusion, not a set of versions, as in many other similar documentary projects. The theorem must be proved, otherwise it has zero value. As a rule, there is not one cause, but a whole chain of critical events. In this part of the film, questions are asked, versions are proposed and brushed aside until one is left. There are even more graphics, scientific and technical terms. Everything is informative and fascinating. Often, the results of the investigation are stunning, serve as an invaluable experience and even influence the further man-made activities of mankind.
Reproduction. After the investigation is completed and the causes of the disaster are clarified, a full reconstruction of the events takes place taking into account its results. Now the picture is completely finished, clear, and it remains only to draw conclusions.
Results. The main thing to take away from the film is the objective reasons for the tragic events. Very often it all comes down to human greed, thirst for profit, as a result of neglect of safety standards. Even the leading concerns in their field save on every cent - this is the result of capitalism. Also "in honor" professional negligence, inattention, excessive self-confidence, squat. Often people die because of their stupidity and lack of knowledge. Man is characterized by mistakes and there is no escape from this ...
All episodes without exception are good, but some I want to highlight especially:
Hell in the tunnel. The infamous tunnel fire, the firefighters were powerless. Very informative episode.
Hell in Guadalajara. Unique case. In the air soars almost the entire area of the Mexican metropolis.
Eruption on Mount Saint Helena. A unique eruption, which despite the complete cordon off the area, still killed about 60 Americans.
Hindenburg airship. Until now, there was no unambiguous version of the causes of the explosion of this air giant, but the creators of the film together with a well-known specialist are conducting a thorough investigation and solving this puzzle.
Nuclear submarine Kursk. An independent UK investigation comes to the same conclusions as the Russian military investigation. Which confirms the level of "Second before the disaster".
Fire in the London Underground. An incredible case that is not believed even after investigation. It has served as an experience for firefighters around the world.
Titanic. Convincing proof of a version in which the iceberg did not play a decisive role.
Explosion on an aircraft carrier. It is a rare case when materials about an incident at a military facility are publicly available. Very interesting research.
Space Shuttle Challenger. "Stop thinking like an engineer and start as a manager," said a specialist predicting the shuttle crash and seeking to cancel the start.
The collapse of the supermarket. The episode on the one hand serves as an example of monstrous corruption and negligence in the construction sector, on the other hand - an example of unreal survivability of a person in extreme conditions.
The tragedy on the cable car. A U.S. military plane cuts a cable lift in the Alps, people fall from a 100-meter height. A unique case.
Bhopal. The largest man-made disaster before Chernobyl. It serves as a good example of the attitude of the United States towards the countries of the third world, as well as an illustration of the principles of capitalism.
Fukushima. Even the Japanese, despite their accuracy and adherence to the rules, sometimes fall into trouble. The result is 1/10 of Chernobyl.
Deepwater Horizon oil platform. The famous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Interesting shows the work of drillers. In general, it raises the same topic as Bhopal.
The attack on Mumbai. The episode shows that India is still a 3rd World country. 6 well-armed terrorists kept the metropolis in horror for a whole day, 195 people were killed. There was nothing police could do.
What does a person think, closing his eyes, remaining alone with himself? I, closing them now, see the endless sky, drowning in the creeping mist against the background of the bright sun, the beautiful nature of the coastal mountains and the amazing beauty of the ocean.
But that's not always the case. And it's obvious that at different points in life, we see, in our minds, other pictures: if a mother has lost a child, she thinks only of him or the person in love, she thinks only of her soulmate. I, after watching the next episode of this program, can usually think of one thing: the safety of my life depends on the safety of my child. You.
Surprisingly, watching this show you are amazed at where you can be misfortune: a shopping center, even the most reliable plane, train, subway, state institution, own house, apartment, a simple walk down the street ... – you can die almost instantly. Yes, the probability of what’s going on in the series... the chance of it happening to you is slim. But still someone was injured, died, although the “probability” of an “accident” for the last person was negligible: “1 in several million” – this particular person did not save.
But who could prevent the incident, report the threat, imminent danger, or initially make sure that the tragedy did not happen... to make a person close his eyes for the last time in his life, did not think about ...