Crocodile Gennadiy ( Almost Holy) 2015

The doc is maybe a little one-sided, but it's fascinating.

Steve Hoover peels back multiple layers of Mokhnenko's story with artistry and acuity, assisted by a heady and propulsive score from composer Atticus Ross.

This documentary isn't about heroes and villains, or determining right and wrong. It's about hope in the face of hopelessness, and what drives a man to keep trying to change the seemingly unchangeable.

To the filmmakers, Pastor Gennadiy Mokhnenko is a bit of a superhero. I found myself leaning that way too.

"Almost Holy" captures something meaningfully urgent in the brutal day-to-day of tough love amid a world of tougher indifference.

A good example of how a charismatic figure doesn't automatically generate a deep or compelling documentary ...

Almost Holy is bleak, but ultimately hopeful, and wholly fascinating. Documentary fans should take note.

Steve Hoover's film makes for a sympathetic,yet quietly critical portrait. John Pope's dark lensing and Atticus Ross's score add to the sense of unease and intrigue.

Almost Holy is a deeply disturbing and shocking documentary portrait of life at its lowest ebb.

Hoover is careful to balance Mokhnenko's tough-love philanthropy and hot-dog-guzzling geniality with his messianic egotism ...

Steve Hoover's documentary never questions Mokhnenko's right to play God with people's lives but builds a powerful portrait of the way one man has made a difference in a country that is no longer master of its own future.

This gripping documentary about Gennadiy Mokhnenko, aka Pastor Crocodile, a controversial child-welfare activist in Ukraine, has the propulsive power and arc of a drama.