The Russian Woodpecker
FilmBuff | Release Date: October 16, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The PlaylistDrew TaylorOct 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
100
Village VoiceChuck WilsonOct 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
80
The GuardianCharlie PhillipsOct 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
80
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinOct 13, 2015
Director Chad Gracia’s The Russian Woodpecker offers a wild ride through Ukrainian and Soviet history. Read full review
80
VarietyDennis HarveyOct 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
75
RogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmFeb 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
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinOct 29, 2015
The documentary The Russian Woodpecker is provocative, spooky and just a little nutty. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldOct 15, 2015
Whatever the facts, Mr. Gracia’s messily structured film works best as a document of fear in today’s Ukraine and as a kind of ghost story about the Soviet Union. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloOct 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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