The premise of this movie made in a documentary format is intriguing, and it is interesting to watch as the theory about the catastrophe at Chernobyl unfolds.But that's it - interesting theory, no real facts, no reliable sources, no real technical or physical evidence. Not very convincing.The "genius artist", who came up with the whole idea takes away a lot of the credibility with his artistic nonsensical performance as well.So yeah, I'm not convinced.

I know, it's not a popular review. Today, I had the good fortune to watch this, while there's a referendum going on between the Dutch and Ukraine. This film was part of the pro politics.First of all, understand that Fedor was introduced as either a stranger, not from this world, or a genius (the last, if you're smart apparently).Then he unveils his possible idea of how thing went in the Tjernobyl disaster of 1986. In his theory he links Sovietpolitics with a coordinated nuclear disaster to cover up tracks. This part seems promising at first. With that he caught my interest. But soon you will find yourself wondering that what it lacks, is the search for truth, and to find documents. It's not going to happen. No hard evidence. It's all a bit weak and based on ideas (his idea to be specific). One would say that a lot had been said and written on the matter over the course of 30 years after Tjernobyl.. Then he is concerned that some KGB/FSB service will come and look for him, as soon as he's requesting documents. So....., he doesn't. He's a bit paranoid in this phase.Then the Maidan revolution breaks out, and all of a sudden, he has no problem whatsoever to tell his 'Tjernobyltruth' as a fact.. Because Moscow has been doing this since the beginning of the Soviet Union for some reason. He even relates events in the order of Holodomor (Stalin), Tjernobyl (Gorbatsjov), and finally Maidan (Putin), and summarizes this as 'Moscow behavior'. I would consider this as biased propaganda or a conspiracy theory at best, as there's no backing of his story. It was very disappointing, he should be able to do better.

This documentary presents numerous speculations about the Chernobyl disaster (most notably alleging that it may have been an 'inside job' done to cover up a costly failed Soviet intelligence project).The film clearly doesn't seem to know whether to back these wild notions and thus 'expose the conspiracy', or to let them represent the troubled/visionary mind of the artist-protagonist Fedor Alexandrovich. It hedges its bets, rather like a horoscope its meaning is largely down to you.This leaves the film with a conspicuous absence in the place where its core integrity should be. I saw this at a festival with filmmaker present and he gave open-ended answers regarding to the conspiracy angle when questioned by the audience. This leaves the film with an artificial range of interpretation, because it lacks any real conviction of its own. It should be noted that some of the footage is great, but unfortunately the whole is less than the sum of the parts.

The Russian Woodpecker was one of the most refreshing documentaries I've seen in a long while. Such an authentically and tightly-told story - but one that doesn't rely on formulaic documentary formats (albeit still unarguably a documentary). Saw a lot of solid docs at Sheffield Doc/Fest this year but this was my total favourite. Whether you're into the themes/subject matter independently or not, this is a great film, a great story and a great lead character. Worth every 80 minutes of its and your time (I think it's about 80 mins). I came away moved and impressed by how they managed to tell such an epic narrative in such a relatable and relatively low-key way, seeing the Ukrainian/Russian situation from a human/personal perspective and beginning to understand it all the better for it.