The Russian Woodpecker

2015 "Chernobyl & War in Ukraine"
6.8| 1h20m| en
Details

As his country is gripped by revolution and war, a Ukrainian victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster discovers a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life and play his part in the revolution by revealing it.

Director

Producted By

Roast Beef Productions

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Reviews

GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike
Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.
Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Kevin J Baird Ultimately, as documentaries go, this one is not great. The running theme presented is that a Russian Government Official forced Chernobyl to explode, in order to hide the fact that the Duga (Russian Over-The-Horizon Radar) was not working. I think even a casual observer, not understanding the Soviet history would find this claim hard to believe. There are moments in the picture where Fedor (Our guide) is conducting interviews with officials who are essentially denying his claims as preposterous. It then switches to Fedor watching the same interview back on a TV, and he is claiming that the person he is interviewing is squirming in their chair. We don't really see that, he's just telling us what he sees in the interview that he gave. While he watches it. We see nothing of the sort. Except an angry Russian who probably didn't like this kid's weird conspiracy questions. While there are some good interviews where they are talking to people who worked at the Nuclear Power Plant, and they were critical of the institution for ordering the experiments; Fedor, instead of going with this information and expounding on it, to make a better documentary on what happened, he goes on this weird tangent about how it was a planned explosion to hide that the Duga didn't work.Here's the thing... And they don't mention it in the documentary. There were at least two Duga's. One was indeed in the Ukraine at Chernobyl (The receiver anyway), but the other was in the East. The Soviets used this system for almost twenty years. They didn't just get up one day in the middle of 1986 and decide that this would be the time to judge whether the system was worth the money or not. And the idea that the person in charge would try to melt-down the power-plant to hide it is preposterous. Because the commission that is there to check on it, could just go check on the Duga in the East to see how it was working and draw the same conclusions. The administrator would have had to of blown up a nuclear power plant in the East and in the West to hide both Duga's. There may have even been a third - http://www.thelivingmoon.com/45jack_files/03files/Russian_Bases_Wood pecker_Duga_Radar_Ukraine.htmlThe Duga must have been a success, because the Russians are now using "Container" Radar, which is the next generation Over-The- Horizon radar born out of the Duga's history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_radarSo this "Documentary" is less about substance, and more about conspiracy. There are plenty of things the Soviets did wrong, that one doesn't need to invent fiction about it. The truth is always more interesting.
katyvans Artist Fedor Alexandrovich is a force to be reckoned with in this riveting documentary. As a child he was a resident of Chernobyl when the nuclear disaster happened. As an adult in the Ukraine the rising tensions there compel him to go in search of the answers surrounding the events of 1986. This is a must watch; Alexandrovich is a character that will stay with you. Although Chernobyl is a distant memory to most of us in the West for Alexandrovich and countless other people from the former USSR it has left a lasting legacy of not only physical illness but also mental trauma. The recent events in the Ukraine also get a look in and you get to see what occurred from the point of view of those inside.
Sabihondo A movie that exposes the "New Soviet Union" for what it is, criminal. We all know the Soviet Union is a 3rd world country with nuclear weapons that only steals technology and subjugates its people. This film shows one angle of their behavior and thought processes. While there are many Soviet citizens that are happy with their $50 a month pension and just want to buy food, there are more than want to play a positive part in this world but are powerless due to the power structure.After the Soviet invasion of Ukraine in 2014 (I was there when it happened), the world shrugged as putin marched like Hitler through the Crimea, then Donbas (Eastern Ukraine). This documentary shows how the evil empire has returned after refusing to accept that they are nothing more than a bunch of thugs.
Tcepo We have all been told the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was an accident. This movie presents a frightening case that it was no accident. By revisiting the available facts and through multiple interviews, the movie leads us through a maze that eventually points the finger at communist politicians in Moscow. If this incident happened in a vacuum it could be hard to believe. However, if you look at Ukrainian-Russian relations over the past 100 years a pattern develops. In the 1930's a famine orchestrated by Moscow killed millions of Ukrainians. After WWII Moscow orchestrated the execution and exile of many more. Today, we have the instigation and military support of "rebels" in Eastern Ukraine leading to thousands of more deaths. Successive Russian governments have repeatedly shown a callousness to the value of a life, especially a Ukrainian life. Suddenly the case made in this movie follows a shocking but established pattern and provides a warning for all of us.