This starts out as a straight dramatised documentary (from the autobiographical account of lead character Dr Robert Gale) about the meltdown and the heroic efforts of the local fire brigade to control the ensuing conflagration.
However, it turns into an intimate little celebration of US philanthropy with Jon Voight as a bone marrow specialist who travels to Moscow and does his best to save Russian Sammi Daviss hubby and other radiation victims. Jason Robards does a good job as the ageing American sponsor of the expedition and theres a Gorby lookalike too.
Filmed in the USSR and using authentic news footage, this is well worth a look.