Boris Shcherbina Telephone Scene from HBO’s Chernobyl. “We need a new phone“, “I don’t give a f*ck“.

Soviet scientists attempt to use a high-tech German robot in the effort to clear debris from the roof of the Chernobyl complex, but the machine fails almost immediately. Political operative Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgård) suspects that the robot has succumbed because of exposure to radiation levels that exceed its design tolerance, and he further believes that this is likely because his superiors in Moscow lied to the machine’s owners about the amount of radiation to which the machine would be exposed. When his suspicions are confirmed during a phone call, he cannot contain his frustrations, even though the person to whom he’s speaking warns him that “they“ (presumably the KGB) are listening to the conversation and his denunciations of Rhyskov, Gorbachev, and other top officials. The result is one of the most epic rants in the history of cinema -- on par with Tony Montana’s outburst in Scarface. The scene would be hilarious were the subject matter not so sobering. Includes the memorable lines “We need a new phone“ and “I don’t give a fuck“.