An excellent documentary on Ukrainian streaming rental service Takflix: The Babushkas of Chornobyl.

The documentary explores the story of a group of old ladies (the titular ‘babushkas’ - aka ‘grannies’). Living in the exclusion zone until the reactor meltdown, they evacuated along with everyone they knew. But, later in life, growing tired of living away from their homes, returned to the zone.

This is a really remarkable story - the women are interesting, compelling characters who you just feel a great affection towards, and seeing how they lived in the zone is fascinating.

The film was made before the invasion, before the occupation of Chornobyl. I sometimes wonder what became of these ladies - are they still alive? Were they still there when the russians arrived? What happened to them?

Really worth watching if you’ve got any interest in Chornobyl, the zone, or rural Ukrainian life.

The rental costs 95 Ukrainian hryvnias, or around £2, for a 70 minute film; besides some minor difficulties getting my card to transact overseas, I had zero problems using this service, and intend to rent from them again - they have a number of classic and modern Ukrainian films available, and a dedicated section for those with English subtitles.