valerypolyakov Review of The Russian Woodpecker

The Russian Woodpecker (2015)

The best documentary that I have seen in years

[10/10 · 28 October 2015]

I watched this movie at Landmark in SF. The movie is the best documentary that I have seen in years! It is informative, suspenseful, and entertaining. The movie is trying to pin down the cause of the nuclear reactor breach at Chernobyl Nuclear Power station in 1986, which is still the worst technological disaster in human history. The protagonist is investigating the accident despite stonewalling by former officials at great personal risks. The investigation is taking place during the last months of the now deposed Yanukovich's oppressive regime, when Ukraine finally shed away the last remnants of "sovietism." I was always convinced that the Chernobyl accident was a result of an extreme recklessness and total indifference to the value of a human life, so typical of the Soviet regime. After watching the movie, I am not so sure anymore. Something far more sinister and culpable could have been in play. Go watch the movie. You will not regret it!