The Russian Woodpecker

Name: The Russian Woodpecker
Genre: History, War, Documentary, News
Released: October 16, 2015
Duration: 80 min
Rating: 74

2015

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Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 5 Ratings

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5.6

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Movie Details & Credits

FilmBuff | Release Date: October 16, 2015 | Not Rated

Summary: Fedor Alexandrovich is a radioactive man. He was four years old in 1986, when he was exposed to the toxic effects of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown and forced to leave his home. Now 33, he is an artist in Ukraine, with radioactive strontium in his bones and a singular obsession with Chernobyl, and with the giant, mysterious steel pyramidFedor Alexandrovich is a radioactive man. He was four years old in 1986, when he was exposed to the toxic effects of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown and forced to leave his home. Now 33, he is an artist in Ukraine, with radioactive strontium in his bones and a singular obsession with Chernobyl, and with the giant, mysterious steel pyramid now rotting away 2 miles from the disaster site: a hulking Cold War weapon known as the Duga and nicknamed the "Russian Woodpecker" for the constant clicking radio frequencies that it emits. In Gracia's documentary/conspiracy thriller, Alexandrovich returns to the ghost towns in the radioactive Exclusion Zone to try to find answers - and to decide whether to risk his life by revealing them, amid growing clouds of Ukraine's emerging revolution and war.… Expand

Director: Chad Gracia

Genre(s): History, War, Documentary, News

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 80 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Chuck Wilson

Oct 13, 2015

The Russian Woodpecker is very much like Fedor himself — eccentric as hell, smart as a whip, and, at the end of the day, a heartbreaker. Read full review

100

The Playlist Drew Taylor

Oct 13, 2015

In the end, it doesn't matter if you believe Alexandrovich's story that a $7 billion weapons system was ultimately the cause of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown; what matters is that Alexandrovich believes it so completely. And through his eyes (which seem to bug out outside of his skull), the entire Russia/Ukraine relationship takes on a vivid, personal immediacy. Read full review

Dennis Harvey

Oct 13, 2015

Deftly cramming a terrific amount of history, breaking news, personal drama, culture and context into a trim runtime, The Russian Woodpecker is surprisingly inventive, even buoyant in its presentation of several issues that could scarcely be more sobering. Read full review

The Guardian Charlie Phillips

Oct 13, 2015

Gracia succeeds brilliantly in delivering a chilling warning about where Putin and his spooks might go next, by giving Fedor full licence to act the biblical prophet. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Matt Fagerholm

Feb 1, 2018

The post-apocalyptic landscapes captured by the courageous lens of cinematographer Artem Ryzhykov are deeply chilling, especially when Alexandrovich stumbles upon a classroom littered with gas masks. Read full review

Gary Goldstein

Oct 29, 2015

The documentary The Russian Woodpecker is provocative, spooky and just a little nutty. Read full review

Mike D'Angelo

Oct 15, 2015

The Russian Woodpecker is ostensibly an investigative documentary, but there’s precious little investigation; its primary subject, Fedor Alexandrovich, is peddling a hypothesis for which he offers no tangible evidence whatsoever. Read full review

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User Reviews

ScribeHard

Nov 29, 2015

It is difficult to overstate how incredible writer/director Chad Gracia’s storytelling work is here. The Russian Woodpecker is a film that begs to be as confusing and cumbersome as possible, with competing dichotomies of past and present, Cold Warriors and pacifists, history and art,It is difficult to overstate how incredible writer/director Chad Gracia’s storytelling work is here. The Russian Woodpecker is a film that begs to be as confusing and cumbersome as possible, with competing dichotomies of past and present, Cold Warriors and pacifists, history and art, history-makers and artists, and science and conspiracy. Yet somehow Gracia not only makes sense of it all, he presents it in a way that rivals some of the best dramatic fiction out there.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

EpicLadySponge

Jul 29, 2016

Chad Gracia returns, but only this time, he has a huge movie documentary to share and 'The Russian Woodpecker' manages to get things right without slipping a single mistake.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

arostislavna

Nov 26, 2021

Purely fictional conspiracy theorist propaganda film. Purely fictional conspiracy theorist propaganda film.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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