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.

Ultimately, as documentaries go, this one is not great. The running theme presented is that a Russian Government Official forced Chernobyl to explode, in order to hide the fact that the Duga (Russian Over-The-Horizon Radar) was not working. I think even a casual observer, not understanding the Soviet history would find this claim hard to believe. There are moments in the picture where Fedor (Our guide) is conducting interviews with officials who are essentially denying his claims as preposterous. It then switches to Fedor watching the same interview back on a TV, and he is claiming that the person he is interviewing is squirming in their chair. We don't really see that, he's just telling us what he sees in the interview that he gave. While he watches it. We see nothing of the sort. Except an angry Russian who probably didn't like this kid's weird conspiracy questions. While there are some good interviews where they are talking to people who worked at the Nuclear Power Plant, and they were critical of the institution for ordering the experiments; Fedor, instead of going with this information and expounding on it, to make a better documentary on what happened, he goes on this weird tangent about how it was a planned explosion to hide that the Duga didn't work.Here's the thing... And they don't mention it in the documentary. There were at least two Duga's. One was indeed in the Ukraine at Chernobyl (The receiver anyway), but the other was in the East. The Soviets used this system for almost twenty years. They didn't just get up one day in the middle of 1986 and decide that this would be the time to judge whether the system was worth the money or not. And the idea that the person in charge would try to melt-down the power-plant to hide it is preposterous. Because the commission that is there to check on it, could just go check on the Duga in the East to see how it was working and draw the same conclusions. The administrator would have had to of blown up a nuclear power plant in the East and in the West to hide both Duga's. There may have even been a third - http://www.thelivingmoon.com/45jack_files/03files/Russian_Bases_Wood pecker_Duga_Radar_Ukraine.htmlThe Duga must have been a success, because the Russians are now using "Container" Radar, which is the next generation Over-The- Horizon radar born out of the Duga's history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_radarSo this "Documentary" is less about substance, and more about conspiracy. There are plenty of things the Soviets did wrong, that one doesn't need to invent fiction about it. The truth is always more interesting.

Like no other documentary I've seen. This movie immerses you, not just in the political and cultural forces shaping the Ukraine, but in the mind of one its most eccentric and brilliant inhabitants. Whether you ultimately believe the theory of the Chernobyl disaster that Fedor develops is beside the point. It's about traveling with him as he pieces things together and marveling at the sights along the way. From political upheaval in modern Ukraine, to the intrigue and conspiracies of cold war statecraft, to the bizarre and beautiful patchwork inside Fedor's head. The unique characters and beautiful, surreal images of this film will stay with you for a long while.

Since I filmed Fedor, along with our DP, before and after these controversial scenes, which some have said were "staged Western propaganda," I'd like to put my professional reputation behind the statement that these scenes were NOT staged.*SPOILER ALERT* One thing that became clear to me and the entire team from the beginning was that Fedor was a caged tiger. At times he was very difficult to work with and always restless, but the thing we admired about him was his unrelenting pursuit of his idea — which is why we were surprised when he turned on us and the film. Both Chad and I were there during that tense time, and Fedor was continuously fighting with us and backtracking. He still trusted his close friend and fellow Ukrainian, Artem. So we needed to film Fedor with secret cameras because we could not understand what was happening (at one point Feedor attacked me for bringing out my camera, so we knew something serious was going on). It was not an easy decision, but by using hidden cameras, we were finally able to discover the reason why Fedor no longer wanted to investigate his theory. At that point, we decided to stop filming so that Fedor could feel safe again.Fedor never knew we filmed him with secret cameras or that those scenes existed. Chad eventually told him a few nights before the premiere at Sundance Film Festival, and the screening was the first time Fedor saw this controversial footage. Obviously, we were all nervous by what Fedor might say or do on stage when he saw it. But, he was fine with it since he felt the documentary was an honest and beautifully cinematic telling of his journey.Fedor's theory sounds fantastical and even crazy, but in my opinion the film is more about how an individual can lose his way when a society disintegrates into violence and fear. These controversial scenes gives an important glimpse into just that state of mind. -- Ram Devineni, Co-Producer