Review of The Russian Woodpecker (2015) by Charlie A — 04 Feb 2018

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.

This film digs deep into that. Very deep. There's one part in which they interview a former scientist who worked at Chernobyl, and the details he reveals to them (after choosing to drink quite a lot) is chilling. Even more disturbing is knowing the risk he himself and the film crew put them all at by including that testimony. Confessions like that are very, very dangerous.

Some may be put off by the filmmaker's unabashedly artistic montages of him in rather avant garde 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.

The film is a rollercoaster of ideas, suggestions, and suspicions, and leaves you wondering whether Chernobyl was simply an accident without explanation, or if there were powerful people who wanted it destroyed.