Tribeca Review: 'Crocodile Gennadiy' (Indiewire): Documentaries that chronicle a foreign country's social issues occasionally come across as "poverty porn" to many Western viewers, but that label thankfully doesn't apply to Steve Hoover's "Crocodile Gennadiy," which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Executive produced by Terrence Malick, the movie has little in common with his work, though it similarly offers an uplifting worldview.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of Ukraine's social institutions crumbled under corrupt governments and a decaying infrastructure. Many of the nation's youth succumbed to drug addiction and alcoholism while losing their homes. After watching these issues for more than a decade, a Mariupol pastor named Gennadiy Mokhnenko took matters into his own hands, forcibly removing children from the streets or unsuitable homes and taking them to his rehab and housing facility, Pilgrim Republic.
The film follows Mokhnenko's quest over the course of the last 15 years, as some of his wards thrive and some expire, offering a frightening glimpse into a world where so few care about the decline of their so-called lesser citizens. Mokhnenko as a character in his own story is immediately charming, showing off scenes from "The Adventures of Cheburashka and Friends," the Soviet stop-motion children's program featuring a crocodile named Gennadiy, whose quest to help others Mokhnenko has acquired for himself. Though the antics of the animated crocodile often reflect the issues facing Pilgrim, namely governmental neglect and community pressures, in reality the issues plaguing Ukraine's street children seem much more grim.
Like the program itself, and the tactics used by Mokhnenko, the film occasionally uses tough love to get its point across to the viewer. In one scene, a young boy, no more than 12, is brought into the center on a tarp. His skin has ballooned from a blood infection cause by the injections of "krokodil" (desomorphine) that he has not only taken himself, but pushed on other addicted kids in the room. Mokhnenko forces the children to watch him suffer, and in turn Hoover forces it upon the viewer. But without witnessing such a ghastly experience, neither the children nor the audience would comprehend the full scope of the calamity at hand.
Hoover's blunt approach to filming such grotesque details equates him with Mokhnenko and his no-nonsense methods, but the filmmaker insists in press notes that this is not a call-to-action film. Having suffered from his own drug problems as a teenager, Hoover was, "struck by the character of Gennadiy," admitting that the man confounded him. Indeed, why would someone go out of his way, put himself in dangerous situations and be criticized for his actions to do what he does? The film offers no answer, instead choosing to examine the conundrum of a man who repeatedly washes his face when things get to overwhelming, right before heading back out to the streets.
Showtimes
Friday, December 11 / 11:00am
Galleria JFK Cinema Theatre 3
Credits
Director
Steve Hoover
Language
Ukrainian (English Subtitles)