The Russian Woodpecker

This offbeat but thought-provoking documentary confronts what could be one of the last nasty secrets of the Cold War while also shedding light on the current ugly conflict between Russia and Ukraine. American director Chad Gracia has found a weirdly compelling protagonist in disheveled bohemian performance artist Fedor Alexandrovich, who spent his childhood in Chernobyl, until the nuclear meltdown in 1986. Now, obsessed with the disaster and convinced that foul play from Moscow was involved, the wide-eyed Ukrainian agitator returns to Chernobyl, where viewers are introduced to the controversial “Duga”—a radio transmitter monstrosity operating adjacent to the Chernobyl reactor. The Duga emits a sound that resembles a woodpecker's tapping (hence the title) and was suspected of sending “mind-control” radio waves to the West back in the Cold War halcyon days. Alexandrovich concocts a wild theory about how the Duga was part of a plot by Moscow to blow up the Chernobyl nuclear reactor and clandestinely finish the Ukrainian genocide that Russia started under Stalin. But just as Alexandrovich's research into this conspiratorial mystery begins to push the boundaries of credibility, his courage flags, as he starts to fear repercussion from pro-Russian thugs. Even though his initial investigation goes disappointingly awry, Alexandrovich redeems himself somewhat by his role in the Ukrainian nationalist Maidan Revolution in 2014. Highly recommended. (M. Sandlin)