Powerful

hyped garbage

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I am in no way a conspiracy theorist, but I am also in no way familiar with the very disturbing secrets which clearly lie within Russia and its former (and current) annexed nations. This film presents a very harsh, yet realistic possible explanation for why Chernobyl happened. Why a perfectly functioning nuclear plant which fed both the government and the people suddenly melted down catastrophically. Most people have since chalked it up as "just because", as if nuclear reactors sometimes just blow themselves up randomly.Some may be put off by the filmmaker's unabashedly artistic montages of him in rather avantgarde outfits and scenes, in between heart-stopping clips of him climbing the frightfully high towers that projected the Russian Woodpecker signal, and him attempting to wrangle information out of former Soviet officials. This creativity seeps through to make it more than just another cut-and-dry documentary. The filmmaker himself has a deep personal connection with Chernobyl, and expresses that anger in various artful ways.

I know, it's not a popular review. Today, I had the good fortune to watch this, while there's a referendum going on between the Dutch and Ukraine. This film was part of the pro politics.First of all, understand that Fedor was introduced as either a stranger, not from this world, or a genius (the last, if you're smart apparently).Then he unveils his possible idea of how thing went in the Tjernobyl disaster of 1986. In his theory he links Sovietpolitics with a coordinated nuclear disaster to cover up tracks. This part seems promising at first. With that he caught my interest. But soon you will find yourself wondering that what it lacks, is the search for truth, and to find documents. It's not going to happen. No hard evidence. It's all a bit weak and based on ideas (his idea to be specific). One would say that a lot had been said and written on the matter over the course of 30 years after Tjernobyl.. Then he is concerned that some KGB/FSB service will come and look for him, as soon as he's requesting documents. So....., he doesn't. He's a bit paranoid in this phase.Then the Maidan revolution breaks out, and all of a sudden, he has no problem whatsoever to tell his 'Tjernobyltruth' as a fact.. Because Moscow has been doing this since the beginning of the Soviet Union for some reason. He even relates events in the order of Holodomor (Stalin), Tjernobyl (Gorbatsjov), and finally Maidan (Putin), and summarizes this as 'Moscow behavior'. I would consider this as biased propaganda or a conspiracy theory at best, as there's no backing of his story. It was very disappointing, he should be able to do better.

In the world of IIO and misinformation, the known fascist right sector/Svoboda actions in Maidan, including mounting evidence of right sector sniping their very own to force the 'new Ukraine'; we find in this 'Russian woodpecker', an American cuckoo. A 'contrivation' of CIAHollywood/Joel Harding proportion.An artist-proclaimed in the flyer as cult-hero, BUT only in the producers dreams. A noble quest and the evils of empire surround the making of this sophisticated propaganda piece. Why 'Victoria NULAND' s name doesn't feature in the credits alongside 'Yats' and the 5 billion USAID put into the coup d'état, can only be oversight on the NY side of the operation. But. They say disinformation has to contain truth, or it doesn't serve. And who knows whether the central premiss is correct? We know that Governments murder their own citizens -even the remotest fool knows 911 was an inside job- but to hide the facts of right sector /USA involvement in the coup behind this heroic sentimentality rap, is anti-history and can only place the makers of this work as myth makers. propagandists. To feature the terrible famine, but not Ukrainian fascist SS committing Babi-Yar...and their descendants running the Ukrainian Rada hand-in-hand with USAMO, is a crime of conscience.

The Russian Woodpecker was one of the most refreshing documentaries I've seen in a long while. Such an authentically and tightly-told story - but one that doesn't rely on formulaic documentary formats (albeit still unarguably a documentary). Saw a lot of solid docs at Sheffield Doc/Fest this year but this was my total favourite. Whether you're into the themes/subject matter independently or not, this is a great film, a great story and a great lead character. Worth every 80 minutes of its and your time (I think it's about 80 mins). I came away moved and impressed by how they managed to tell such an epic narrative in such a relatable and relatively low-key way, seeing the Ukrainian/Russian situation from a human/personal perspective and beginning to understand it all the better for it.