Yes.
CHARKOV To curry favor with Kremlin officials?
Yes.
This is how they break you. With the sins of your father. With your own.
Charkov sighs. Puts the paper away.
CHARKOV
You're one of us, Legasov. You've always been one of us. I can do anything I want with you, anything, but what I want the most is for you to know that I know. You're not brave. You're not heroic, (beat)
You're just a dying man who forgot himself.
Legasov looks down. No.
LEGASOV
I know who I am, and I know what I've done. In a just world, I would be shot for my lies. (beat)
But not for this. Not for the truth.
CHARKOV
Scientists... and your idiot obsession with reasons.
(leans in) When the bullet hits your skull, what will it matter why?
A grim moment. Then-- Charkov smiles. Leans back.
CHARKOV
No one's getting shot, Legasov. The whole world saw you in Vienna. It would be embarrassing to kill you now. And for what? Your testimony today will not be accepted by the State. It will not be disseminated in the press. It never happened, (beat)
No, you will live-- however long you have. But not as a scientist. Not anymore. You'll keep your title and your office, but no duties, no authority, no friends. No one will talk to you. No one will listen to you. Other men-- lesser men— will receive credit for the things you have done. Your legacy is now their legacy. You'll live long enough to see that.
Erased. He's being erased. Before he can speak—
CHARKOV
What role did Shcherbina play in this?
LEGASOV
None. He didn't know what I was going to say.
CHARKOV
What role did Khomyuk play in this? LEGASOV
None. She didn't know either.
Charkov stares into Legasov's eyes. He sees no waver, no blink, no false bravado. He wasn't expecting that.
CHARKOV
After all you've said and done today, it would be-- curious-- if you chose this moment to lie.
LEGASOV (unfaltering) I would think a man of your experience would know a lie when he hears one.
A long pause, as Charkov passes silent judgment. Then... he nods. Very well. He believes. But:
CHARKOV
You will not meet or communicate with either one of them ever again. You will not communicate with anyone about Chernobyl ever again. You will remain so immaterial to the world around you that when you finally do die, it will be exceedingly hard to tell that you ever lived at all.
LEGASOV And if I refuse?
Charkov's eyes deaden. The face of a murderer. Then, as if by the flip of a switch, an amiable shrug.
CHARKOV
Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?
And Valery Legasov, as dead as a living man can be, can't help but smile at that.
LEGASOV
"Why worry about something that isn't going to happen." That's perfect.
(beat)
They should put that on our money.
567 EXT. CITY OF CHERNOBYL - STREET - BEFORE SUNSET 567
The front door of the building opens. KGB men emerge. They walk in unison, surrounding LEGASOV as they escort him.
Up ahead, a KGB agent waits by a CAR for Legasov. Legasov turns back... and there they are, across the street.
Khomyuk and Shcherbina. Khomyuk fights back tears. She knows what he did. She knows why. She knows what it means.
Legasov knows he can't say a word. All he has is his face, his eyes, his heart. He absolves her as best he can.
And now, Shcherbina. His brother. His friend. His rock. Shcherbina raises a hand in goodbye. They don't need words. It happened. They mattered. And now it's over.
Legasov raises his hand back, then gets into the car. We RISE UP - as the car pulls away...
SOUND: the HISS of an audio tape, and then:
LEGASOV (VO ON TAPE) To be a scientist is to be naive. We are so focused on our search for truth, we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it. But it is always there, whether we can see it or not, whether we choose to or not. The truth doesn't care about our needs or wants. It doesn't care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait, for all time.
We RISE UP HIGHER - as the car disappears down the road.
LEGASOV (VO ON TAPE) And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask:
CUT TO BLACK:
568 OVER BLACK 568
LEGASOV (VO ON TAPE) What is the cost of lies?
569 INT./EXT. THE REAL PRIPYAT - TODAY 569
MUSIC: Vichnaya Pamyat (Eternal Memory)
Photos of Valery Legasov...
Valery Legasov took his own life at the age of 51 on April 26, 1988, exactly two years after the explosion at Chernobyl.
The audio tapes of Legasov's memoirs were circulated among the Soviet scientific community.
His suicide made it impossible for them to be ignored.
In the aftermath of his death, Soviet officials finally acknowledged the design flaws of the RBMK nuclear reactors.
Those reactors were immediately retrofitted to prevent an accident like Chernobyl from happening again.
Photographs of various scientists who participated in the battle to clean up Chernobyl...
Legasov was aided by dozens of scientists who worked tirelessly alongside him at Chernobyl.
Some spoke out against the official account of events and were subject to denunciation, arrest and imprisonment.
The character of Ulana Khomyuk was created to represent them all and to honor their dedication and service to truth and humanity.
Photographs of Shcherbina...
Boris Shcherbina died on August 22, 1990... four years and four months after he was sent to Chernobyl.
Images from the actual trial...
For their roles in the Chernobyl disaster, Viktor Bryukhanov, Anatoly Dyatlov and Nikolai Fomin were sentenced to ten years hard labor.
After his release, Nikolai Fomin returned to work... at a nuclear power plant in Kalinin, Russia.
The final photo taken of Dyatlov, hunched over, thin, bald. Anatoly Dyatlov died from radiation-related illness in 1995.
He was 64.
A photo of the real Khodemchuk standing with his young son.
Valery Khodemchuk's body was never recovered. He is permanently entombed under Reactor 4.
EXISTING FOOTAGE: handheld video of someone in a protective suit moving through the dark, dilapidated hallways...
The firefighters' clothing still remains in the basement of Pripyat Hospital.
VIDEO: a dosimeter is held near one of the firefighter's actual boots. The beeping turns into one long, loud alarm.
It is dangerously radioactive to this day.
Abandoned rooms in Pripyat...
Following the death of her husband and daughter, Lyudmilla Ignatenko suffered multiple strokes. Doctors told her she would never be able to bear a child.