Pu-239/THE HALF LIFE OF TIMOFEY BEREZIN
US/ UK, 2006, 88 minutes, Colour.
Paddy Considine, Oscar Isaac, Radha Mitchell, Jason Flemyng, Jordan Long, Melanie Thierry.
Directed by Scott Z.Burns.
A blend of serious drama with some black comedy. It is the work of writer-director Scott Z. Burns, who wrote screenplays for the Bourne Identity as well as a number of screenplays for Steven Soderbergh, The Informant, contagion, Side-Effects, The Laundromat. Particularly insightful is a film he both wrote and directed, The Report, about Daniel P.Jones and the Senate investigation into American torture.
In this film, we are in Chernobyl after the meltdown. Paddy Considine plays a worker in the facility, contaminated by radioactivity and laid off. He concocts a plan to make ends meet, to support his wife (Radha Mitchell) and child, stealing some of the plutonium and deciding to travel to Moscow to sell it on the black market. However, he falls in with some thugs (led by Oscar Isaac) who swindle him but are also ineffective in dealing with the plutonium to get the money to pay off their debts to an arch criminal.
While the plot sounds contrived and a touch melodramatic, the performances are strong and the theme of the hapless ordinary citizen, in too deep for his own good, ultimately tragic, as its powerful moments.
- The Russian story, American- UK perspectives?
- The Russian provincial city, the nuclear facility, interiors, offices? Homes? The countryside? The contrast with Moscow, the markets, clubs, apartments, gangsters and oligarchs? The musical score?
- The basic situation, memories of Chernobyl, nuclear reactors, errors, dangers, explosions, radiation, contamination? Consequences, cover-ups, blackmail?
- Timofey’s story, the original title, half life? Age, 12 years devoted work, expertise, the risk, trapped, contaminated, abandoned? The officials, severance, no pay? To sign a confession? The effect of his illness? His relationship with his wife, her devotion? Love for his son? The sequences together? His decision, taking the plutonium, strapping it to himself? Farewelling his wife? Going to Moscow, the market, seeking the criminals, his weakened state, the encounter with Shiv? The contacts, his being sick, the boss coming out, Shiv taking him to the alternate, trying to be persuasive, bargaining about the money? Timofey wanting the money for his family? The rejection, his wanting to go to the station, going back again to the gangster, discussions, confrontation, Shiv being shot, Timofey shot?
- Shiv and his story, gangsters, protection rackets, his colleagues, their being dumb, decisions, lack of decision, whims? The two associates, reckless, the stapler and the shop owner, the threats, blowing up the shop? The wrong shop? Their boss, control over them, challenges, defying them? Stupid episodes – especially the dog, feeding it chocolate, taking it back to its owner, blaming Shiv? Shiv and his wife, prostitution, the son, home? Putting up with his colleagues, yet his making stupid mistakes? The encounter with Timofey, trying to get the deal, ultimately his death? The friends, finding timber fey his body, taking the plutonium, thinking it cocaine, inhaling it?
- The sad story of the wife, the son, her standing up to the authorities, getting the payout? A new life in Costa Rica?
- The picture of Russian incompetence, memories of Chernobyl and cover-ups?
- The picture of the emerging oligarchs, the range of thugs, shrewdness and stupidity?
