Peter Maass Profile picture
Jun 10, 2019 14 tweets 4 min read Read on X
How do you know whether a film about a historic event is true? Which scenes, lines or characters are real, which invented? Is the underlying narrative accurate? These issues have been handled in an innovative way by the writer of HBO's miniseries "Chernobyl."
I've written before about the achievements of "Chernobyl." But one of its least-heralded attributes is off-screen. Most filmmakers don't want discuss the liberties they take with the historical record, but @clmazin, the writer of "Chernobyl" is telling all.
For each episode there's a companion podcast in which Mazin explains what's real and what's invented, why he chose to make up some things -- and the sources he relied on for his material. It's a remarkably effort in transparency that's rare in Hollywood. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the…
The point of the podcasts, he said in an interview with Slate, was to "hold myself accountable for things we change. You can't present everything perfectly through narrative, but you can acknowledge it, and talk about it."
The podcasts are remarkable (helped by Mazin nabbing Peter Sagal as his co-host). Was Valery Legasov real? (Yes). Was Ulana Khomyuk? (No.) And much more. Mazin even published the scripts for each of the five episodes. news.avclub.com/chernobyl-s-sc…
He is totally transparent about what's real & what's invented. I assume the reason he's willing to do that -- few in Hollywood do -- is because so much of "Chernobyl" is loyal to the historical record, and what's invented is consistent with it. He is not creating false myths.
For good or bad (mostly bad, alas) what many Americans know or believe of the past comes from Hollywood's recreations of it. Particularly in the post 9-11 era, we've watched a lot of false history at the multiplex. I've written about this before...theintercept.com/2015/02/13/why…
Contrast, for instance, Mazin's openness about "Chernobyl" with the evasiveness of Mark Boal, the writer of "Zero Dark Thirty," which spread the falsehood that CIA torture worked during the hunt for bin Laden. This snippet is from my story in the Atlantic about ZDT --
"It's a dazzling film," I wrote. "But what's more dazzling—and frustrating—is the government's skill, time and time again, in getting its story told so uncritically." theatlantic.com/entertainment/…
This happens again and again -- major films present skewed/false versions of historic events but the writers or directors are not challenged to explain or defend their accuracy. I wrote about this problem with the blockbuster "American Sniper." theintercept.com/2015/01/08/cli…
And that's why Mazin's approach to "Chernobyl" is so important -- he is setting a new standard, a Hollywood version of "show your work." You have made a film about a major figure or event -- show us your sources, explain what's real and invented, don't dodge these questions.
This is not an argument against fiction in filmmaking. Invention and imagination are necessary -- real events are usually too complex or too slow for loyal translation to the screen. The final scene of "Chernobyl" is half made up (I won't tell you which half) but it's brilliant.
"Narrative is a beautiful thing," Mazin told Slate. "It’s how you understand the world, it’s how we relate to each other, and it’s how we organize our own memories ... The problem is when we weaponize it."
Weaponized narratives can be disarmed. The type of transparency/scrutiny that's encouraged by Mazin's example with "Chernobyl" is our best defense against them. theintercept.com/2019/06/05/wha…

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More from @maassp

May 20
“Gradually, then suddenly.”

A few thoughts on whether Benjamin Netanyahu might actually end up in the Hague for a war crimes trial, using the precedent of Slobodan Milošević's extradition there in 2001. I covered the former Yugoslavia back then and wrote a book about it.
Two key factors in Milošević's extradition. First, he had been ousted from power nine months before his extradition. Second, the White House pressured the new government in Belgrade to send him to the Hague -- economic aid was conditioned on it.
Another factor: Milošević was not popular. The wars he masterminded in Croatia, Bosnia & Kosovo eviscerated Serbia’s social and economic fabric. He was charmless. Netanyahu is similar on that score: despised by so many in Israel, he's its most unloved leader ever.
Read 6 tweets
Apr 7, 2023
The Iraq war is passing from America's memory but not mine. I don't know whether we'll ever accept moral & legal responsibility but until a reckoning comes, the truth must be kept alive.

Here's what I witnessed 20 years ago today at the Diyala Canal outside Baghdad. (Thread) Photo by Kuni Takahashi
On April 7, 2003, I was with Marines who stormed across a bridge on the Diyala, 9 miles from central Baghdad; it was their gateway to capturing Iraq's capital. But on this day, they killed at least a half dozen civilians, probably more.

Here's the first one I saw, on the bridge: Photo by Peter Maass
At dawn, as the Marines prepared to run across the damaged bridge, an artillery shell hit an armored personnel carrier and killed 2 of them. Gary Knight shot this photo of the immediate aftermath. Photo by Gary Knight
Read 47 tweets
Oct 19, 2022
For months, a consortium of news outlets has combed through a trove of data hacked from >50 Russian companies and agencies since the Ukraine invasion. It's the largest hack of a nation-state we've ever seen. Today, @theintercept published its first story from this data. 🧵
Meet Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner Group, whose mercenaries are fighting in Ukraine and other countries where they're accused of war crimes. This story by @alicesperi reveals how Prigozhin used U.S. & UK lawyers to conceal his Wagner ties. theintercept.com/2022/10/19/rus…
Prigozhin tried to sue @EliotHiggins for defamation after @bellingcat reported on Wagner. Higgins told @theintercept that emails hacked from Prigozhin's lawyers show them trying to "quash the free press as part of a cynical PR campaign to challenge international sanctions."
Read 10 tweets
Mar 19, 2022
On the 19th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, I'm re-upping this thread about the intellectual authors of that catastrophe -- they are still telling us what to do, including on Ukraine.
Max Boot, now telling us what to do on Russia and Ukraine, was one of the loudest and most erroneous voices on the Iraq invasion.
Robert Kagan, now telling us what to do on Russia and Ukraine, was also one of the loudest and most erroneous voices on the Iraq invasion.
Read 8 tweets
Sep 13, 2021
Snapshots from the lethal vaudeville revealed in "The Afghanistan Papers" by @CraigMWhitlock.

The U.S. paid an Afghan businessman to rebuild bridges blown up by the Taliban. His brother was in the Taliban blowing up the bridges.

"They had built a thriving business."
A State Department official was sharply criticized by the U.S. military for doubting the wisdom of building a highway in a hostile district in Kandahar.

"We were supposed to build roads in an area so dangerous that armed U.S. military helicopters could not even land near it."
Ever hear the one about the U.S. aid program to teach hand-washing in Afghanistan, where people wash their hands five times a day before praying?
Read 6 tweets
Sep 8, 2021
The U.S. military has disciplined more than 1.3 million soldiers since 9/11 -- but none of the generals who lied about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here's my story about their abuse of power (and a short thread on it). theintercept.com/2021/09/08/afg…
When we think of generals like David Petraeus and Lloyd Austin, we need to remember this line from Paul Yingling, who served in Iraq: "As matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war." armedforcesjournal.com/a-failure-in-g…
America's generals didn't just lose the forever wars, they lied about what was happening and perpetuated the maw of bloodshed. In "The Afghanistan Papers," @CraigMWhitlock describes their upbeat public assessments as "a disinformation campaign." amazon.com/Afghanistan-Pa…
Read 13 tweets

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