History Film / K19TheWidowmaker

* LetThemDieHappy: The poor soldiers who sacrificed themselves to prevent K-19 from going critical are not told that they are dying, and are given aspirin as a placebo to disguise the fact that the sub's doctor can't actually do anything for them.

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: The crewmembers of the K-19 are fictional characters with fictional names based on the real persons. For instance, Alexei Vostrikov and Mikhail Polenin were named Nikolai Zateyev and Vasily Arkhipov.

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: The crewmembers of the K-19 are fictional characters with fictional names based on the real ones. For instance, Alexei Vostrikov and Mikhail Polenin were named Nikolai Zateyev and Vasily Arkhipov.

** The nickname "The Widowmaker" is completely made up. K19 never did have that title, though so many sailors and workers died during its construction that such a nickname would certainly be appropriate. In RealLife, it was eventually nicknamed "Hiroshima" after the accident.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: The real executive officer of K-19 during the reactor accident (upon whom Liam Neeson's character was [[VeryLooselybasedOnATrueStory very loosely based]]) was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Arkhipov_(vice_admiral) Vasily Arkhipov]]. The following year Arkhipov, as flotilla commander and executive officer of the submarine B-59, would be the single dissenting voice preventing the launching of a nuclear-armed torpedo during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not only did the man have a hand in saving the K-19 from a nuclear meltdown, he later saved ''the entire world'' from nuclear armageddon.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Widowmaker. Although in RealLife, it didn't earn a nickname till after its nuclear accident, which by the way, was "Hiroshima."
* NeverTrustATitle: The nickname "The Widowmaker" is completely made up. K19 never did have that title, though so many sailors and workers died during its construction that such a nickname would certainly be appropriate.

** Nuclear reactors, by very nature, ''do not create a nuclear explosion'' if they melt down. Similarly, you can't "cook off" a nuclear warhead, just the explosive lenses. Although Radtchenko confesses he has no idea what would actually happen, he just speculates.

** It also should be pointed out that the reactor technician was quite green. He didn't know what he was talking about, because he was only barely qualified for the job, if that. It should also be pointed out that back then, the number of Soviet ships with nuclear reactors could be counted on one hand. K-19 was the second Soviet ship powered by a nuclear reactor.

* GoingCritical: The second half of the film consists of the crew trying to prevent K-19's reactor from going critical, which would KillEmAll, probably destroy the sub, and possibly destroy the nearby American destroyer as well.

* GoingCritical

* HazmatSuit: Unfortunately, the Quartermaster's office screwed up and gave them suits rated for ''chemical'' hazards instead of ''radiation'' hazards. Not that it would make much difference. No hazmat suit short of solid lead PoweredArmor could really protect from the radiation of the live nuclear reactor, and even that not all that well. Modern radiation hazmat suits mainly protect the wearer from radioactive ''material'' contamination, being just a slightly beefed-up chemical suit.[[note]]While alpha and beta radiation is pretty easy to stop, gamma is almost impossible to. It takes several inches of lead to even partly block it, and lead is heavy. Completly stopping the gamma output of an active nuclear reactor requires several feet of extremely dense material, preferably a mix of layers of different materials, which would be completely impractical for even PoweredArmor. Also, it's not a good idea to stop high levels of beta radiation with lead, as this creates nasty amounts of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremsstrahlung secondary x-rays]]. The main focus of "radiation suits" is to prevent the wearer from being contaminated by dust containing radioactive materials (which can be inhaled or ingested).[[/note]]

* HeroicSacrifice: The second half of the movie is pretty much a series of these.

* LetThemDieHappy: The poor soldiers who sacrificed themselves to prevent K-19 from going critical.

* SomeoneHasToDie: And they do, in some truly nightmare-inducing ways.

%%* SubStory

* VehicleTitle: The Aforementioned K-19

** It also should be pointed out that the reactor technician was quite green. He didn't know what he was talking about, because he was only barely qualified for the job, if that. It should also be pointed out that back then, the number of American and Soviet ships, combined, with nuclear reactors could be counted on one hand. K-19 was the second Soviet ship powered by a nuclear reactor.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Referenced. The film ends around the time that the Berlin Wall fell.

* OminousLatinChanting: The song ''Reactor'', played whenever the crew has to go into the reactor and fix the cooling system.

** Actually averted with that violet-blue color in the reactor room. That color? It's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation Cherenkov radiation]]. It takes '''''thousands of rads''''' to generate a glow that bright, in a completely unshielded compartment. As said below, solid lead PoweredArmor wouldn't have protected the crew in that oven, a seething cauldron of high-energy gamma radation. Hell on Earth. It was little wonder some broke down crying when contemplating going into there -- no amount of bullshit could convince them they weren't on suicide missions. '''''[[BodyHorror They were right]]'''''.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: K-19 ''wasn't'' the USSR's first nuclear sub -- that distinction went to K-3, which was an attack sub, and while similarly "[[TheAllegedCar reliable]]" wasn't ''that'' prone to serious accidents. K-19 was the first nuclear ''missile'' sub.

* HazmatSuit: Unfortunately, the Quartermaster's office screwed up and gave them suits rated for ''chemical'' hazards instead of ''radiation'' hazards. Not that it would make much difference. No hazmat suit short of solid lead PoweredArmor could really protect from the radiation of the live nuclear reactor, and even that not all that well. Modern radiation hazmat suits mainly protect the wearer from radioactive ''material'' contamination, being just a slightly beefed-up chemical suit.[[note]]While alpha and beta radiation is pretty easy to stop, gamma is almost impossible to. It takes several inches of lead to even partly block it, and lead is heavy. Also, it's not a good idea to stop high levels of beta radiation with lead, as this creates nasty amounts of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremsstrahlung secondary x-rays]]. The main focus of "radiation suits" is to prevent the wearer from being contaminated by dust containing radioactive materials (which can be inhaled or ingested).[[/note]]

* HazmatSuit: Unfortunately, the Quartermaster's office screwed up and gave them suits rated for ''chemical'' hazards instead of ''radiation'' hazards. Not that it would make much difference. No hazmat suit short of solid lead PoweredArmor could really protect from the radiation of the live nuclear reactor, and even that not all that well. Modern radiation hazmat suits mainly protect the wearer from radioactive ''material'' contamination, being just a slightly beefed-up chemical suit.

* {{Lzherusskie}}: Most of the cast.

* ThisIsNotADrill

* NoOSHACompliance: The rushed and frequently shoddy construction of the K-19 is both a recurring theme and the root cause of the reactor accident; either higher quality welding in the cooling system or installation of the backup systems as designed would likely have prevented the disaster.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: To the amusement of some, Harrison Ford seems to alternate between this and bursts of {{Lzherusskie}}. It's more egregious with Liam Neeson, however.
** One reviewer remarked that they were the most American and Irish Russians ever, though at one point, Harrison Ford himself starts to sound more Irish than Russian, which he probably picked up from hanging out with Liam Neeson too much. Quite a few of the other sailors (those who weren't Russian-born) have [[OohMeAccentsSlipping wobbly]] accents, too.
** Joss Ackland, who played Defense Minister Marshal Zolentsov, does not even bother trying to sound "Russian" and sounds every bit as English as he is.

* SubStory

** TimeToStepUpCommander

* WorldWarIII: Vostrikov tells the crew that because an American destroyer is trailing them too closely, and very close to a NATO base, he fears that if the sub goes critical and the destroyer gets caught up in it, then America/NATO might misunderstand and nuke Russia in retaliation.
** That would have been a very real fear for 1960s Americans and Soviets. The Aegis defense system, and ''Ticonderoga''-class cruiser, were specifically created so that that the US Navy wouldn't have to fear a Soviet airstrike.

!!Tropes:

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: K-19 ''wasn't'' the USSR's first nuclear sub – that distinction went to K-3, which was an attack sub, and while similarly "[[TheAllegedCar reliable]]" wasn't ''that'' prone to serious accidents. K-19 was the first nuclear ''missile'' sub.
* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: Nuclear reactors, by very nature, ''do not create a nuclear explosion'' if they melt down. Similarly, you can't "cook off" a nuclear warhead, just the explosive lenses. Although Radtchenko confesses he has no idea what would actually happen, he just speculates.
-->'''Radtchenko''': The temperature will keep rising 'til it reaches 1,000 degrees, and...
-->'''Vostrikov''': And? And WHAT?
-->'''Radtchenko''': No one knows.
** However, a nuclear reactor at 1,000 degrees coming in contact with cold water all of a sudden would form a very impressive dirty bomb and certainly wouldn't do the sub crew any good. Larry Bond's book ''Crash Dive'' recounts a very similar situation aboard the Soviet sub K-219.
*** And by "very impressive," we mean you'd be hard pressed to find a piece of the sub larger than your hand. Along with probably anything else within a few thousand feet of it.
*** The closest thing to a nuclear reactor suddenly exploding with no warning ever caught on film was HMS ''Barham'' blowing herself to bits while sinking in 1941. The newsreels say it was an aft magazine explosion.
** It also should be pointed out that the reactor technician was quite green. He didn't know what he was talking about, because he was only barely qualified for the job, if that.
*** It should also be pointed out that back then, the number of American and Soviet ships, combined, with nuclear reactors could be counted on one hand. K-19 was the second Soviet ship powered by a nuclear reactor.
** Actually averted with that violet-blue color in the reactor room. That color? It's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation Cherenkov radiation]]. It takes '''''thousands of rads''''' to generate a glow that bright, in a completely unshielded compartment. As said below, solid lead PoweredArmor wouldn't have protected the crew in that oven, a seething cauldron of high-energy gamma radation. Hell on Earth. It was little wonder some broke down crying when contemplating going into there - no amount of bullshit could convince them they weren't on suicide missions. '''''[[BodyHorror They were right]]'''''.

* ArtisticLicenseShips: The crew used a diesel sub for filming, and it shows. Nuclear subs are ''much'' roomier, though the cramped interiors of a diesel boat just make a better stage for the [[RuleOfDrama drama]].
** A Soviet Project 651 submarine, like K-77 (the one used by the filmmakers), actually had a one-foot-wider beam than K-19 (the titular boat). They were also much quieter than early Soviet nuclear-powered submarines, had enormous batteries, and could stay submerged for about a month before surfacing up to 800 nautical miles away.
* BasedOnATrueStory: Some feel it's more of a VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory.
** Including the crewmen from the original accident. However, they ''did'' like the film overall, especially Harrison Ford's performance.
* TheCaptain: Two, actually. Polenin, who still has the Captain rank, was downranked to XO for the duration of the exercise, after upsetting Party members. Vostrikov takes his place as the Captain. The rest of the officers do not like this, as they feel Vostrikov only got command because he married a party member's daughter.
** That's somewhat more complex. Soviet/Russian rank system doesn't maintain a rigid correspondence between the rank and position, so, say a division (nominally a major general billet) can be and often is commanded by a colonel. So Polenin was demoted (from CO to XO), but not downranked, as he kept his Captain rank.

* UsefulNotes/ColdWar
* CorruptCorporateExecutive[=/=]ObstructiveBureaucrat: More like Corrupt Politburo Party Members. The vast majority of the K-19's problems can be traced to shoddy construction, including the use of substandard parts on critical systems as cost-cutting measures, and yet the Party still wanted to have it launch on deadline and [[TemptingFate not fail]].
** Not to mention that Party Members believe the crew can deal with the radiation contamination just by barking even more orders and eating fresh fruit.
** The final insult comes when the men who died from radiation poisoning were nominated by Vostrikov for the Hero of the Soviet Union, but were denied on the basis of it not being wartime, and their deaths being the result of an accident.

''K19: The Widowmaker'' is a fact-based fictional movie released on July 19, 2002, about the first of many disasters that befell the Soviet submarine of the same name. It was directed by Creator/KathrynBigelow, of ''Film/PointBreak1991'' and ''Film/TheHurtLocker'' fame.

* {{Lzherusskie}}

** Actually averted with that violet-blue color in the reactor room. That color? It's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation Cherenkov radiation]]. It takes '''''thousands of rads''''' to generate a glow that bright, in a completely unshielded compartment. As said below, solid lead PoweredArmor wouldn't have protected the crew in that oven, a seething cauldron of high-energy gamma radation. Hell on Earth. It was little wonder some broke down crying when contemplating going into there - no amount of bullshit could convince them they were on suicide missions. '''''They were right'''''.

** Actually averted with that violet-blue color in the reactor room. That color? It's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation Cherenkov radiation]]. It takes '''''thousands of rads''''' to generate a glow that bright, in a completely unshielded compartment. As said below, solid lead PoweredArmor wouldn't have protected the crew in that oven, a seething cauldron of high-energy gamma radation. Hell on Earth. It was little wonder some broke down crying when contemplating going into there.

** Actually averted with that violet-blue color in the reactor room. That color? It's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation Cherenkov radiation]]. It takes '''''thousands of rads''''' to generate a glow that bright, in a completely unshielded compartment. As said below, solid lead PoweredArmor wouldn't have protected the crew in that oven – it was little wonder some broke down crying when contemplating going into there.

* ShowingOffThePerilousPowerSource

* VomitIndiscretionShot: When the repair crew leaves the reactor room, their first action is to puke. Vomiting is, by the way, one of the symptoms of fatal radiation poisoning.