Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Charles, who writes:
Thomas, you might find this movie review of “The Russian Woodpecker” interesting. Looks like the film is more conspiracy than investigative reporting. Too bad. Having dealt with Woodpecker noise during my ham radio career, it would have been fun to know more about the motivation behind building that enormous OTH radar:
http://www.avclub.com/review/russian-woodpecker-offers-plenty-conspiracy-little-226743
Got hold of a preview copy. Lost interest in about 15 minutes.
Thank you! This post just saved me $5.00, so I made an swling.com coffee donation instead.
I saw the title pop up ‘direct to iTunes’, which should have been a red flag, but lots of nerdy narrow-interest films that I like tend to never make it to theaters. After watching the trailer (and catching this review) I was disappointed in the whole conspiracy angle. I bet the real story behind the technology (and the Duga-3 site itself) would make a great documentary. I’m afraid “The Russian Woodpecker” just isn’t that film.
First of all, Scott, thanks for contributing to the coffee fund!
I’m with you–I would have purchased or rented that film as well. However, there’s nothing more frustrating to me than a documentary that poses as an investigation, but only pumps out conspiracy theories. I would be WAY more interested in the actual history of the site. Perhaps some day!
-Thomas