20 Days in Mariupol

20 Days in Mariupol

“20 Days in Mariupol” is an extremely sensitive documentary that deals with the first 20 days of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine. It belongs to the list of documentaries that are so great but will make you never want to watch them again and such kind that with some images being that chilling and the text so distressing, everyone will have it etched in his mind.

Mstyslav Chernov who works as a video journalist with Associated Press was in Mariupol for three weeks after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, starting from February 24 when Putin declared a “Special military operation” in “self-defense.” In his narration, Chernov admits feeling guilty about leaving earlier even though the risk of him being killed increased while there were more bodies of soldiers, civilians and journalists.

The story “20 Days in Mariupol” starts at its conclusion however it quickly turns into a detailed reportage describing what these journalists witnessed. The movie was compiled out of about twenty-five hours shot by Chernov’s crew; they could only send thirty minutes to AP because of limitations concerning data volume. Besides much of this would likely not have been cleared for reporting anyway since Western media rarely shows blood or death.

One significant element why this film is intriguing and powerful is how it allows certain moments play out like they’re happening right before your eyes even though there might be edits designed to compress or clarify things here. The only part which is completely unnecessary has got to be a low key synth score played underneath long sequences of fear (and terror). No use for it at all: let the pictures talk together with sounds themselves instead.

The surrealism of the earliest footage is perhaps its most striking feature. It sets up a scenario for us that makes everything seem normal and usual. There are no aircraft in the sky, no tanks on the roads. Smoke appears on the horizon or someone comes to speak with reporters crying that she has been chased out of her home with nothing but clothes on her back unsure what to do next. (She was sent back to home by filmmakers; however, they found her alive later although her house got destroyed.)

But that’s just where it starts getting weirder and more chilling. Russian bombs, missiles, guns, fires and car damage caused by tanks ravage the city into rubble. Martial law has been imposed. Not all citizens can be accommodated in bomb shelters so they sing huddled basements during an artillery rain. Electricity dies down as well as water supply and internet virtually stops.

This makes it almost impossible for anyone outside of either military or media circles to have access to reliable information sources. Journalists hesitate whether or not they could interview those soldiers who seem like Ukrainians because they may easily be Russians pretending to be Ukrainians themselves. This even affects those privileged insiders who must carefully sort through disinformation while trying hard not to fall prey to misinterpretations and false judgments made amidst inconsistent information flows regarding the conflict in Ukraine.

The movie shows Rumor mongering is taking place in Mariupol streets and Russian news channels that say fake news about civilian deaths and altered or doctored videos showing Ukrainian civilians being abused are wrong (not true). When a British journalist confronts Russia’s UN ambassador about Chernov’s reportage he answers disturbingly “who wins information war wins war”.

This letter is from hell itself! The fragmented nature of it all, being disorderly, chaotic was a revelation.

A four-year-old girl dies after being shredded by Russian shells while on an operating table; a teenage boy playing soccer outside his school loses his legs in a bomb explosion; and we see his bloody stumps as he lies there lifeless on a gurney, with his father screaming. The last working surgeon in the hospital tells the filmmakers, “Show that Putin bastard the eyes of this child!” and yells, “Show what these motherf**kers are doing to civilians!”

An eerily subdued sequence follows a team of volunteers dumping 70 bodies into mass graves. Half were Ukrainians killed in eight separate shellings within 24 hours. The rest were people who died at home of other causes but could not be collected and properly identified and disposed of because the invasion had destroyed the city’s infrastructure and bureaucracy.

An expanded series of episodes depicts a newscast that is likely to be familiar to the viewers due to international press it attracted; a pregnant woman in labor died with her baby after being airlifted from the almost vacant obstetrical ward of the destroyed city’s general hospital to another health facility. Her pelvic bones were crushed by debris as a result of Russian airstrikes, making normal delivery impossible. Doctors tried performing C-section but the baby was already dead. When she knew she would lose her child, she pleaded with medical professionals, “Just shoot me!”

“It’s hard on the eye,” Chernov tells his audience, “but I suppose it’s supposed to be.”

Watch 20 Days in Mariupol For Free On Gomovies.