The Russian Woodpecker

Jan 31, 2015

1h 20m

★ 6.2

Chernobyl & War in Ukraine

Overview

As his country is gripped by revolution and war, a Ukrainian victim of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster discovers a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life and play his part in the revolution by revealing it.

Genres

Documentary

History

Production Companies

Rattapallax

Roast Beef Productions

GraciaFilms

The Russian Woodpecker Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Himself

Fedor Alexandrovich

Fedor's Father

Andrei Alexandrovich

Fedor's Son

Igor Alexandrovich

Chernobyl Historian

Natalia Baranovskaya

Chernobyl Chief Engineer

Andrei Bilyk

Duga Data Commander

Fedor Chebanenko

Himself - CBS News Foreign Correspondent (archive footage)

Charlie D'Agata

Chernobyl Engineer

Anatoly Duatlov

Radar Professor

Fedor Dubrovka

Former President Russia (archive footage)

Mikhail Gorbachev

Former President Ukraine (archive footage)

Viktor Yanukovich

Last Soviet Head of Atomic Energy

Georgiy Kopchinski

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6.1

The Red Tent

Dec 23, 1969

Torn by personal guilt, Italian General Umberto Nobile reminisces about his 1928 failed Arctic expedition aboard the airship Italia.

7.3

Europa Europa

Nov 14, 1990

A Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a 'war hero' and eventually becomes a Hitler Youth.

5.5

Pussy Versus Putin

Aug 30, 2013

In 2012 two members of anarchistic female band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in a Mordovian labor camp for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred". Russian film collective Gogol’s Wives follow each step of the feminist punk band’s battle against Putin including their first disruptive performances on a trolley bus, shooting a video about transparent elections, a controversial performance in a Red Square cathedral, and footage shot in a jail cell. Support comes from many corners including Madonna who painted the words "Pussy Riot" on her back and wore a balaclava during her Moscow show. The documentary portrays the grim state of present-day Russia, a country starkly divided between conservatism and anarchy. Pussy Riot believes that art has to be free and they're willing to take it to extremes. "Pussycat made a mess in the house," they say, and the house is Russia. The filmmakers do not seek to moralize, they simply edit events and leave viewers to draw their own conclusions.

7.3

Tsarevich Aleksey

May 23, 1996

Tsarevich Alexei was one of the smartest people in the state. His father Peter hoped that he would take his place, but Alexei tried with all his might to remain out of power and wished for ordinary human happiness.

7.4

Enemy at the Gates

Feb 28, 2001

A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.

6.9

Space Dogs

Aug 9, 2019

Laika, a stray dog, was the first living being to be sent into space and thus to a certain death. A legend says that she returned to Earth as a ghost and still roams the streets of Moscow alongside her free-drifting descendants. While shooting this film, the directors little by little realised that they knew the street dogs only as part of our human world; they have never looked at humans as a part of the dogs’ world.

7.0

Karenina & I

Feb 24, 2017

The actor Gøril Mauseth goes on a 11.000 kilometer travel with the Trans-Siberian to play Anna Karenina in a new language in Leo Tolstoj's Russia, discovering the language, and the reasons Tolstoj wrote what he wrote, changing her forever.

7.9

Andrei Rublev

Dec 16, 1966

An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous era, the peace-seeking monk eventually gains a reputation for his art. But after Rublev witnesses a brutal battle and unintentionally becomes involved, he takes a vow of silence and spends time away from his work. As he begins to ease his troubled soul, he takes steps towards becoming a painter once again.

7.5

Inside Chernobyl's Mega Tomb

Dec 21, 2016

Documentary which follows the construction of a trailblazing 36,000-tonne steel structure to entomb the ruins of the nuclear power plant destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

7.2

Russian Ark

May 22, 2002

A ghost and a French marquis wander through the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, encountering scenes from many different periods of its history.

6.5

In Search of Mother Russia's Children

Dec 23, 1997

This profile of homeless young people in St. Petersburg, Russia, uses subtitles and narration to tell their tales, many of which focus on drugs, neglect and abuse.

No Image

0.0

Pripyat: Ghost City Chronicles

Jan 1, 2008

The word Chernobyl became known worldwide shortly after the 1986 blast. The small town Pripyat, situated just 3 km from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, up to this day serves to remind about the extent of the tragedy. Pripyat used to be a lively little town, both a powerful nuclear centre and a conveniently planned city with schools and urban apartments. It is now a dead, lifeless stretch of land littered with scraps of the past.

7.0

Alexander Nevsky

Nov 24, 1938

When German knights invade Russia, Prince Alexander Nevsky must rally his people to resist the formidable force. After the Teutonic soldiers take over an eastern Russian city, Alexander stages his stand at Novgorod, where a major battle is fought on the ice of frozen Lake Chudskoe. While Alexander leads his outnumbered troops, two of their number, Vasili and Gavrilo, begin a contest of bravery to win the hand of a local maiden.

7.5

Lenin and the Other Story of the Russian Revolution

Feb 28, 2017

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, is remembered as the instigator of the October Revolution of 1917 and, therefore, as one of the men who changed the shape of the world at that time and forever, but perhaps the actual events happened in a way different from that narrated in the history books…

0.0

Abenteuer Russland - Landwirtschaft zwischen Moskau und Sibirien Vol.1

Jan 1, 2017

No overview available.

6.6

Anna Karenina

Aug 30, 1935

In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.

6.1

The Son

May 29, 2019

In 2013, Dima Ilukhin, the cousin of the film’s director and a soldier in the Russian army, died on duty in the Republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus. He was 21 years old. This incident marks the starting point for Abaturov’s reflection on the military. He films the training of new recruits in Siberia, as they bid farewell to their mothers and girlfriends, learn the mechanics of a Kalashnikov, or how to throw a hand grenade and administer first aid. While his parents try to cope with their loss, Dima’s former fellow recruits have to return to battle.

6.9

The Scarlet Empress

May 9, 1934

During the 18th century, German noblewoman Sophia Frederica, who would later become Catherine the Great, travels to Moscow to marry the dimwitted Grand Duke Peter, the heir to the Russian throne. Their arranged marriage proves to be loveless, and Catherine takes many lovers, including the handsome Count Alexei, and bears a son. When the unstable Peter eventually ascends to the throne, Catherine plots to oust him from power.