[AUDIO] Boris' Speech to Workers (HBO Chernobyl)

You'll click like, because if you don't nobody else will. You'll do it because it must be done, because if you don't nobody will watch. If you tell me that's not enough I won't believe you.
--
Audio/slideshow of Boris Shecherbina's (Stellan Skarsgård) powerful speech to Chernobyl workers in HBO's Chernobyl.
From Episode 2 "Please Remain Calm"
Only a slideshow because I'm 99% sure the full video would get canned for copyright.
--
"You’ll do it because it must be done. You’ll do it because nobody else can. And if you don’t, millions will die. If you tell me that’s not enough, I won’t believe you. This is what has always set our people apart. A thousand years of sacrifice in our veins. And every generation must know its own suffering. I spit on the people who did this, and I curse the price I have to pay. But I’m making my peace with it, and now you make yours. And go into that water. Because it must be done."

[@flightofthebumblebee9529]

I love that 2 of the 3 actually survived to this day.

[@el_tio_Harry]

Na, Boris Baranov died on the day of my birth XD

[@flightofthebumblebee9529]

@@el_tio_Harry Boris, why always Boris?

[@flightofthebumblebee9529]

@@el_tio_Harry that's why I said 2 of the 3 swimmers. Not Boris. He died like 5 years after Chernobyl

[@Thewookman]

3 did survive. The other died of a heart attack in the 2000s unrelated to it

[@Wubzy66]

Yeah the one who died was from an unrelated heart attack

[@fusilierdinger]

“You’ll do it because it must be done. You’ll do it because nobody else can. If you don’t, millions will die, and if you tell me that’s not enough, I won’t believe you. This is what has always set our people apart: a thousand years of sacrifice in our veins, and every generation must know its own suffering. I spit on the people who did this, and curse the price I have to pay. But I’m making my peace with it. Now you make yours, and go into that water. Because it must be done.” The best piece of dialogue in the entire series.

[@judyhopps9380]

that dialogue is the most russian thing I've ever heard, and it was in English

[@flightofthebumblebee9529]

Boris was a great man.

[@PassingMaxQ]

Boris was right. That is what sets those people apart. They did it, because it must be done.

[@JonWilde2105]

It could have been slightly better "...and curse the price to pay". He wasn't going into the water. That said, its interesting the speech is credited to him. He was born in 1919. He served in the Red Army during an apocalyptic war where 1 in 7 people of the SU died, but they won. Wartime propaganda probably appealed to the same instincts of young men then as it always does. It must be done. Only you can. If you don't, millions will die. If that's not enough, I don't believe you. 40 years after he was a young man in that apocalypse, he's speaking to the young men in that audience telling them the same thing - only you can, if you don't, millions will die. If that is not enough, I don't believe you. And its the young men who volunteer. The older, wiser men stay quiet. Not old enough to have served themselves, but old enough to know from their dads that there was little glory in it.

[@Materialist39]

@@JonWilde2105I mean this in the best way- it’s weird but refreshing to see a comment with wisdom and empathy like this in the wild

[@RockSmithStudio]

"A thousand years of sacrifice in our veins" That's a powerful line. The descendants of Kievan Rus' have sacrificed much, generation by generation

[@geronimowatson.j.4359]

Three names, to save millions.

[@POPE_FRANC1S]

Nice slideshow

[@TheVoiceOfReason93]

Because it *must* be *done.*

[@karneyroberts2025]

You also cannot do what the last man's name was who volunteered in this pandemic!

[@byronhotchkiss3254]

This is the most Russian speech ever.

[@raphwalker9123]

Jesus open the prisons and tell them anyone who gets it done goes free ,simples

[@johnkonrad5040]

"The authorities feared failure Failure feared these men" -KZbin comment on Chernobyl

[@RtB68]

Well, there's a surprise... I really enjoyed watching the still image presentation here. It allowed the gravity of each moment to fully land. Excellent.

[@peterschorn1]

COMMUNIST: "A yearly stipend of 400 rubles for as long as you live." CAPITALIST: "I'm in awe of you."

[@jimmy2k4o]

I can’t put into words how badly I wouldn’t want to do that job. Of all deaths imaginable, Acute radiation sickness is maybe the one I fear most. But if I heard that speech from Boris, I’d be standing. Or so I like to believe about myself.

[@jamiestewart48]

If it came down to it I'd do it on two conditions: 1.) Afterwards they give me a handgun to kill myself when I decide to instead of suffering radiation killing me and 2.) A stipend to my loved ones every year.

[@nickd7050]

Excellent use of montage! You've lost none of the power of this scene in your choice of stills.

[@karneyroberts2025]

This comes to my mind thinking about the the current Covid-19 pandemic we are in. Magnificent speech from Boris.

[@MrBlack1968]

Yeah, I thought the same when watching leaders asking people to stay indoors. That's why I uploaded it. Obviously it's a totally different scale asking people to sit indoors vs. walk into a nuclear disaster, but the principles of asking the individual to sacrifice for the greater good are the same. Unfortunately Boris Johnson is no Stellan Skarsgard, to say nothing of Trump. The closest to this type of speech I've seen was Queen Elizabeth tonight. Maybe elected politicians can't speak to people in the same way as appointed/hereditary ones.

[@adrianthoroughgood1191]

@@MrBlack1968 being good at winning elections is a different skill set to being good at leading. These days winning elections often comes down to telling people what they want to here rather than what's true or what's right.

[@Datan1234]

@@adrianthoroughgood1191 i cant put into words how much i hate that youre right.

[@HalfHarry]

@@MrBlack1968 this aged well knowing most of covid was a control hoax cant compare to the sacrfice they made in C Chernobyl at all.

[@deb-1558]

Brave men 👏👏

[@horvathszilveszter]

400 hundred rubels. Enough for coffin maybe. Disgusting.

[@matttherrien9608]

They stares death in the eye. He blinked, they then drank some vodka.

[@Unclep318]

Just a shame this didn't really happen and they were just chosen because they were on shift

[@MrBlack1968]

Yeah, for a show so preachy about the truth the show took a hell of a lot of liberties with it.

[@vodeankandosii3982]

Liked purely for the description :)

[@jimmy2k4o]

Even though he’s a communist. This boris might have been a better UK PM than the British one we had. “They mistakenly sent the one good man” You were the one who mattered most boris” I love how shows like this immortalize people like boris scherbina and valery legasov. People across the globe will learn of their work and sacrifice long after Chernobyl is back to background radiation. And ofcourse the three divers who not only saved lives, but saved a continent, that explosion would cause a global humanitarian crisis that would affect everyone, even those living thousands of miles from Pripyat. I was born in 93 and if that explosion happened then the uk would have to help, maybe that would change things and stop my mum and dad meeting at that nightclub in 1988. It’s not unreasonable to think I owe my life to these men.

[@deathbastardable]

I think of this speech every time I need a push to go to the gym.

[@jamiestewart48]

That's why people struggle my friend. You don't need to motivate yourself to go, you need discipline to go no matter what.