"We keep impeccable records. You can't actually SEE any of it, but trust me, it's impeccable."

His face literally shows "Yeah we're hiding a lot of shit from you"

That spooky guy that was working at the library now works for youtube.

So basically every soviet library had its own KGB komrad sitting in a closet

The guy delivers perfectly the "I hope you don't get us shot" face.

"The KGB is a circle of accountability."

Gotta love how the Librarian's eyes turn into saucers when she hears "permission only," but relaxes when she's given the "permission slip" from the Central Committee.

Did all institutional buildings in the Soviet Union have that same sinister green paint scheme? It works great to convey feelings of utter despair.

A huge university library and not a book, magazine, paper or pamphlet in sight. Just their reference cards. Now the state knows not only what's being taken out, but even what's being looked at, and by whom and for how long.

My favorite part of the whole series, you can come to ask the question. Was he a bad guy keeping secrets, or did he allow her that specific document because he knew that was the one that would give her the answer?

"Thank you comrade" "👁️👄👁️"

We might mock this scene today, but this was very real according to many accounts during the 1980's USSR time, especially after the Chernobyl disaster, the CCCP ordered all books relating to anything nuclear to be removed from the libraries all over the communist block. Vanity Fair actually got one of the medical personnel that was a 1st responder to Chernobyl to talk about this, and she said this scene is accurate regarding the restriction of knowledge and information, it was best for the government to decide what the people should know. Joke about this all you want, but it can happen to you if you let it.

The tension in this scene, the drab depressing decor of the library, the worried expression of the desk lady, the scowl of the 'comrade' who doesn't even acknowledge her 'thank you', it's all masterfully done. I've seen big budget action movies that fail to get any reaction from me with their big explosions but these short scene in Chernobyl was masterfully written and filmed.

People these days can wave the hammer and sickle flags, wear it on their t shirts and sing the praises of it loudly but THIS ladies and gentlemen is what the Soviet Union was like for the ordinary person. Oppressive, shadowy and frightful.

Goddamn that ominous music throughout this entire show had me on pins and needles... and I loved all of it

In case you are curious, the library shown in the series is located in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Watching this clip reminded me of the recently uploaded news footage of the first McDonald's opening up in Moskow in 1990. Everybody was freaking out that the employees there were being friendly, helpful and smiling. Now I know why.

"Comrade, I know you've heard stories about us. When I hear them, even I am shocked. But we are not what people say. Yes, people are following you. People are following those people. You see them? They are following me. The KGB is a circle of accountability. Nothing more...." Comrade Charkov, Head of KGB What a paranoid, dysfunctional society.

This isn’t the actual MSU library, but it’s equally soviet nonetheless (Moscow resident here)

the dudes face said it all...neither malevolent or compassionate this was just a job for him and he had his orders to follow

This is not a "political officer". Political officer is purely a military conception - it is actually an army officer that has undergone special ideological training. Guy represented here is an actual KGB officer working in so-called First Departament - part of any institution or public facility that contains sensitive information - universities, libraries, RnD and production plants, state managing facilities, etc. First Departaments were in charge of acces and distribution of such an information that requires permission level (there are three of them - third for sensitive, service only and secret info; second for abovementioned and also totally secret info; first for all abovementioned and also extremely sensitive info), and were subordinate directly to KGB instead of facility management. Fun fact: they still exist in Russia, and there is nothing basically changed in heir methods of working. In technical universities, on some programs you are granted with level 3 permission right on your admission, for example.

In Soviet Russia, library checks you out.

2:17 he looks like the kind of guy who would sell you dope, hash, mescaline, downers, and a cadillac with a pink slip on the side.

1:22 The framing of this scene is so interesting when we meet the KGB agent. In contrast to the librarian, who looks constantly terrified, we have the faceless KGB agent. He comes in like some shadowy figure who must not be approached or even seen... like the face of God, it seems that seeing his face would mean death. He enters from off-camera, and leaves off-camera. Like some unknowable arbiter of fate, he comes and goes at his pleasure. The camera does not follow him, further reinforcing his mystery and terror-inspiring presence. The outsider professor can do naught but wait as her sentence is decided, helpless behind the plexiglass barrier. When he returns, the list is forcefully placed on the counter, the hand appearing from off-screen like the hand of God. There is mercy. Every book has been crossed off, save one. And as the librarian gets up to retrieve the book, relief apparent, the camera pans up to the KGB agent. He has a face. He is just a man. And then the camera switches to the professor. Still behind the barrier, but no longer completely shut out. Her face and torso are framed by the opening between the panels. There is still a bit of distrust, as symbolized by her right shoulder being obscured by the panel frame, but she has made her way in, just a bit. I am not a film buff, and I would never claim to be. I don't know if I've watched more than 5 films this entire year. But even I can recognize that there is some intense symbolism going on in this scene. You could probably write an essay about this scene alone without an issue. Wonderful storytelling.

I've just noticed that this scene doesn't have that shakycam thing going on where the camera just kind of wavers. It makes the scene seem more cold and mechanical.

"The State must protect it's secrets" - Dyatlov

It funny he had this all crossed out in 15 seconds, a feat that is attainable when you have nothing else to do all day. Yet I think he has a whole stack of pre crossed out refusal lists ready to give to any and all library patrons.

Just discovered that I own the exact same dress that the librarian is wearing.

"I'm a nuclear physicist you worked in a shoe factory." "Yes but I'm in charge. To the workers of the world."

Not everyone understood the brilliance of the scene. At first it looks like they don't want her to have the information by striking out all the entries from the list, but the comrade actually gave her exactly what she needed by striking off irrelevant ones!! Notice the relief on her face when she says thank you in the end.

“Thank you, Comrade.” *Etiquette is bourgeois*

The KGB guy looks exactly like the arms dealer from Taxi Driver (1976) who sells Travis the gun

Soviet Union is Matrix.

That spooky guy is about as pleasant as Chernobyl itself.

The subtle eye movement. The emphasis on the expected eye movement. The jarring request for resources and response of only a single accommodation while the others are all denied with noticeably considered uses of strike-through. Wonderful series!

That spooky guy looks like a younger version of the guys that owns twitter.

0:01 This is the National Library of Ukraine (in Kiev)

2:17 me after explaining to the customer that they will not get any refund

What a sad state of life. The proud Russian people, with their tradition of true intellectualism, reduced to asking permission to read a book.

Of the five requested, he approved the only one she needed. But, for the record, concluding that those in the Chernobyl plant hadn't seen the redacted parts is faulty, because no one who made that conclusion was cleared to know everything that a plant operator would be cleared to know. They were professors.

One day GOOGLE Search engine is going to say "You can have that one"

Being a librarian is one thing, being one in the USSR must be a dreadfully boring existence.

nice place to work ..

And that is why James Madison made the first amendment the first.

"Hey comrade, it's me, Easy Andy! I can get you a brand new Cadillac with the pink slip for two grand!"

480p, what is this comrad moreno? Do you even work in the central committee?

Some people said that the man in this clip is supposed to be a young Putin. He was working for the KGB in East Germany at this time.

Information must be protected by layers of security, because information may lead to knowledge, and knowledge may lead to the truth- and we can’t have that, now, can we?

can you believe it used to be normal to smoke in LIBRARIES

Sometimes, when people talk about how the US is a fascistic dictatorship or how we're all living in fear or some such, I think about depictions like this. It's hard for us to imagine, today, the sheer terror that even the humblest official could feel at something like this--the fear that if you screwed up in the slightest way, you could end up getting shot or tortured without even understanding why. That archives lady is absolutely terrified. Either she ticks off the rep of the central committee, or she doesn't keep the secrets properly. Or maybe she does, but the secrets end up being destructive anyway, even if she's done her job properly. She's at the mercy of someone else blaming their mistake on her.

This library is so horrifying, you don’t actually get to pick a book or encyclopedia you want to read but you have to pick its name from a card. After picking the name you have to had permission to see it, the right status to see it and of course the state knows exactly what you read, when and where down to the minute.

there’s an ashton kutcher behind every soviet library

In a lot of ways, this reminds me of how the Vatican operates their research library (can't remember what it's called exactly). Basically, if you wish to do research on a particular item or book, you have to know exactly what item you are looking for. They don't allow you to just browse around. Even after you request said item, they may or may not allow you to have it. It is a very controlled environment with a lot of procedures.

looking up things in libraries used to be insane

The worst part is, this scene makes Soviet bureaucracy look like child’s play

I hardly notice that in a UNIVERSITY LIBRARY there are no books , only files You cannot take a book freely, you ask for it and they decide if they give it to you or not.

"Yeah, I will give you what you need, but don't expect to go abroad anytime soon".

imagine if my university library was like this.

I know he isn't really Putin (he was an KGB agent in GDR at that time, not in Ukraine SSR), but I wonder if they wanted the actor to look like him.

I do my fair share of criticism of my country, but one must appreciate the openness of information. There is no "permission only" in a library. Hell, even the New York Public Library only has a Restricted Section for their antique books, and you can come inside if you knock politely.

Whats especially sad is having someone with no qualifications deciding what someone with qualifications can see.

He give her look dont bother this other one, this is that you need

If you need permission to go into a library, there's something wrong with your society

"Nice weather we're having." "Yes, there's fallout in it."

Such a great actress. Really.

0:00 this is actually Vernadsky National Library in Kiev, that's where it was filmed.

I’m guessing an overdue item would get you a one way ticket to the Lubyanka….

Wes Anderson had a rough job in the 80’s

Legend says that it was Putin at that time worked in KGB , was the young man , staring at her 😁😁

James Caan going to the library in rollerball. I really don't expect most people to know what I'm talking about

It is best to have your own book library already.

“Komrad, I need to see the latest James Patterson novel.”

Those two actors absolutely NAILED the essence of the bureaucratic system at it's most extreme.

He has that look on his face all the time because his parents named him comrade

Well that guy nailed the dead eyed stare of a KGB agent.

I want to go to this library now!

I wonder that the person that spooky guy gave the sheet of paper to was a professional of nuclear engineering and such stuff being able to decide which info was critical and which was not.

That library Committee guy in the library reminds me of Mr. Bookman, the library cop from Seinfeld (first or second season).

is it only me that it kinda has an asmr feel to it? lol

You sign up for the KGB and go through all the cool spy training but, end up screening access to books at the local library. No wonder he looks so depressed.

''If you ever try to come here again I 'll make it seem like an accident!...''

Seems like a happy place

It’s 1980s Jack Dorsey! I knew he was A. a former librarian. B. kgb

The Librarian did not tell the Information Officer that she is working for the Central Committee. It's like she had her request scrutinized after stating her benefactors.

To be honest, "comrade" was an official appeal. In 80's it was a little too much official. One hadn't use it for an informal gratitude. Even worse, it would be bombastic and appear like a sarcasm.

Was that Alison Janney in a cameo??

Konrad scared the heck out of me.

Even the soundtrack in the library is creepy...

One would think that such a system cannot exist, people would revolt... except there are so many that revel in petty bullying that they just love having that tiny power and as such you have no end of personnel that would help keeping the system as is instead of changing it to something better.

Does anyone know the tittle of Volokov article from 1974/1975?

is that the gun salesman from taxi driver?

Leave it to the Soviets to take a vast repository of knowledge - then make it a place of bleakness, depression, and dread.

I wonder if the libraries at Pripyat are still there....

A workers paradise.

He like young version of no country for old men

Holy crap! So much effort to check out Go Dog Go.

Just like a trip to the DMV.

Would be hilarious if the most powerful person happened to be that desk clerk.

The guy at 2:08 looks remarkably similar to the guy who sells guns to Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver.

Is this a scene of a Junior High School library in Florida?