The Russian Woodpecker

I'll try to convince the soldiers...

not to use violence.

We're guys with sticks, are we going to kill you?

The government will fall tomorrow.

A government against its people can't survive.

Lay down your shields.

The Soviet Union absolutely wants revenge...

and is pushing the world toward World War III.

If we don't stop it here...

if we don't stop it now...

it will be too late.

Ukraine is full of ghosts.

Ghosts of the past that are trying to return to life.

And there is a ghost at Chernobyl...

whose scream was heard around the world.

I want to hunt down these ghosts...

and silence them forever.

Because they want to return to life.

Or drag us to their world...

the world of the dead.

Let's do it with a lot of texture.

That will add a sort of ancient rhythm.

I don't know what to do with this hand.

Paint it the colors of Ukraine?

Yes, paint it Ukrainian.

It's stretching toward...

upward, reaching for each other.

That's it then.

Let's put it further back...

I read Tim Burton's memoir...

he wrote, "The worst problem on the film 'Big Fish'...

was that the actor had to be naked."

"And the mosquitoes bit."

But we won't have any mosquitoes.

And Chernobyl mosquitoes?

Seeing Fedor, I realized that he was from another world.

He doesn't fit with people of this day and age.

My friends say contradictory things about him.

Some say, "He's crazy, an idiot!"

"He has dirty fingernails.

He doesn't brush his teeth."

But the smarter ones...

say that Fedor is a genius.

And everything he does is theater.

He thinks differently from others.

A little crazy, a little strange...

but always honest.

During the Chernobyl catastrophe they sent away the children...

so they wouldn't suffer from the radiation in Kiev.

I remember people were in a panic.

And I was sent to an orphanage...

because my parents couldn't be with me.

I was four years old.

I told the children, "I'm just here temporarily..."

"My parents are coming back for me."

They said, "All parents say that, you'll be here forever!"

And I believed it.

I thought I'd be there forever.

It's actually quite a serious trauma for a child.

And from that time I've felt strange... different.

Fedor is so tragic.

From childhood he was a delicate, agitable, gifted boy.

And he spoke like an adult.

His speech was so rich and mature.

Also, he was a pacifist.

When he was six, he put on a tuxedo and a bowler hat...

and went to the children with a letter...

asking them not to play at war.

He started collecting signatures.

They beat him up.

After that, he stopped collecting signatures.

When they did an analysis...

they found radioactive strontium in his bones.

They wanted us to treat him with hormones.

He's suffered so much, his health especially...

all from Chernobyl.

Fedor had long wanted to make a film about Chernobyl.

Because it's been more than 27 years...

and the cause of the explosion is not clear.

I remembered a story from my father...

who was in the Soviet Air Force.

After the explosion, he flew directly over the reactor.

He said he saw a giant luminous pyramid there.

And it gleamed in the rays of the setting sun.

When Fedor heard the story...

he got really excited and wanted to go there.

He found an old Soviet map...

And where my father saw the shining object...

"Boy Scout Camp" was written.

Many people tried to dissuade him, because it's a radioactive zone.

But Fedor ignored them.

Because he felt there was a secret here...

that could shed light on the Chernobyl explosion.

Na... tio... nal Museum.

And lower?

Cher... no... byl.

We're going to see a terrible catastrophe...

That happened when I was just your age.

Nobody knows why it happened.

I'm trying to find out why it happened...

and who is guilty.

During the nighttime they did an experiment.

But the experiment was wrong, forbidden.

They weren't supposed to do it?

No, they shouldn't have.

Is it poison?

Yes, it's poison.

When the explosion happened, no one thought anything of it.

Maybe some people knew about the radiation.

They put on masks and we were surprised.

Why wear a mask in such good weather?

Life went on as normal.

Many went sunbathing at the river.

Trucks came to wash the streets.

We thought it was for a holiday.

Our children played in that water.

From the station came a beautiful raspberry-colored steam.

And to see it better, people gathered at a bridge.

But it turned out the bridge had the most radiation.

Attention! Attention!

Attention! Attention!

Dear Comrades:

There has been an accident...

at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The Communist Party is taking all necessary measures.

However, in order to fully protect our citizens' health...

children being the highest priority...

It has become necessary to implement...

a temporary evacuation.

As you all know, a misfortune has recently befallen us.

The government did everything possible

to hide the magnitude of this accident.

I can say with confidence that they didn't think about the people.

If such a disaster happens...

We must learn a lesson so it doesn't happen again.

But even specialists are barred from documents...

that they could be researching.

When Ukraine became independent...

professional historians had the possibility...

and the need to try to find the truth.

But I went to the archives and nothing is there.

Everything was disbanded...

scattered about...

and in short, destroyed.

We are on the edge of Kiev.

Beyond the Kiev Sea is the Chernobyl nuclear station.

This sea is radioactive.

This is the water of Lethe, the water of forgetfulness.

Because not much time has passed...

and people have forgotten this tragedy.

I remember in my childhood, after they sent away the children...

they said red wine protects against radiation.

So let us make an offering...

to the gods of the underworld...

with the blood of this wine...

that we may find the truth.

STOP! FORBIDDEN RADIOACTIVE ZONE

but I asked, was it a crime?

And I answered, there was a trial...

Therefore there was a crime. Correct?

We're speaking different languages...

We have agreed it was a crime.

I have one question: "Are you a nuclear scientist?"

I'm an artist.

Аnd simply a citizen of this country.

I'm a lawyer and military worker.

And I think that experts should discuss and express their opinions.

No, why? Why only specialists?

I'm asking experts their opinions...

If your car breaks down, can you repair it?

Yes, I repair my own car.

It's a hobby of mine.

Interesting...

And nuclear energy, do you understand it too?

No. But I hope those who are watching might understand.

We're collecting different views.

People should hear different opinions.

I'm trying to understand and I’m told it's a mystery...

Veil of Isis, whatnot.

I want to know the truth.

If it was a crime and people were condemned...

But to this day, there are still disputes about who is to blame.

Maybe the perpetrators have not yet been found.

Our town was awesome.

It was clean and green.

We had an incredible number of roses.

And there were a lot of children.

And lots of joy.

We had fantastic provisions.

We had ketchup. Marvelous.

We had chicken.

It wasn't a city, it was a fairytale.

We're now not too far from the Chernobyl station.

In a destroyed amusement park...

in a dead city, a ghost town...

where everything is steeped in radiation...

and deathly dangerous.

These gas masks were for the schoolchildren.

But they don't protect against radiation.

And they're all that's left of this school.