Two years ago the winner of best documentary feature at the Oscars was a movie called 20 Days in Mariupol, directed by Mstyslav Chernov. The movie includes compelling and tragic footage and interviews from the first few weeks of Ukraine’s war with Russia following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It was one of the hardest docs to watch, but I could not look away. I might have even blogged about, which really says a lot because at that time I wasn’t writing about anything. I found the movie to be a compelling argument for the US to continue to send aid and funds to Ukraine so they could continue this fight, maybe even push Russia out of Ukrainian territory.
Last year, Chernov returned with a documentary feature film, 2000 Meters to Andriivka. It’s available to watch on PBS. You don’t even need a passport subscription to watch it. Chernov’s latest documentary is a sobering look at where Ukraine is now, specifically struggling through their much-publicized counteroffensive in the summer of 2023. The mission Chernov focuses on involves Ukrainian troops moving through a narrow strip of forest 2000 meters long, so that they can reach Andriivka, a small, but critical town along Russia’s resupply line. The Ukrainian soldiers must stay in the forest because on either side of it are large, barren fields filled with mines. The forest used to be a forest. By the time Ukraine’s push for Andriivka takes place the tops of trees have been blown off, the only green is ground growth, and the Russians have built trenches and tunnels weaving back and forth across this ribbon of war-torn Europe.
Throughout the film the Ukrainian side appears focused, motivated, justified, but also disorganized and undersupplied. In contrast, Russia seems rich with soldiers (the dead ones litter the forest belt to Andriivka) and munitions, constantly shelling the strip from afar and at one point not discriminating between Ukrainian troops and their own. Andriivka is finally reached by the Ukrainians, but Russia has laid waste to the village. All buildings and infrastructure is demolished and the viewer gets the impression that Russia will just redirect their supply lines and that the whole push for this town was just Russia draining more life from Ukraine.
Whereas 20 Days was a solid argument to keep up the fight against Russia, 2000 Meters is a strong argument for both parties to come to the table and settle the war sooner rather than later. Ukraine will never stop fighting and Russia will never run out of young men to send to the front lines. That’s the overwhelming feeling I had during this entire movie, which is mostly comprised of body camera footage from the Ukrainian soldiers tasked with getting to Andriivka. And when they got there, a flag was raised, extending out from a barely-standing brick wall, near which the soldiers find one living creature, a house cat, taken back to safety in a soldier’s backpack. The shot of the flag and the pathetic meows from the backpack underscore the vanity of it all.
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