Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov, director of the acclaimed ’20 Days in Mariupol’, once again narrates the war from within in his documentary ‘2000 Meters to Andriivka’

‘2000 meters to Andriivka’ is the new film by the Ukrainian documentary filmmaker and photojournalist Mstyslav Chernov. Winner of the Pulitzer in 2023 for his work for the Associated Press covering the Russian invasion of Mariupol, Chernov is the director of the most acclaimed documentaries of recent years: the impressive ’20 days in Mariupol’ (2023). Awarded the Oscar for best documentary feature film, That film followed a group of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol. Chernov himself was one of them.

In the documentary in question, included in the this year’s Oscars shortlist in the same documentary category, the director returns to narrate the war from within. In ‘2000 Meters to Andriivka’, Chernov joins the Ukrainian platoon whose mission is cross two kilometers of fortified forest to liberate the village of Andriivka from Russian forces. Led by the voice of Chernov himself, which contextualizes and makes a very intelligent use of the resource of anticipationand very well edited, the documentary alternates the material shot by the director with the soldiers with images recorded by them in the middle of the battlefield with cameras installed in their helmets.

The combination of those immersive and brutal images, in which We witness the horror in first person and without filters, and the scenes in which we learn the personal stories of the soldiers is absolutely devastating, and gives rise to an impressive document about the irreparable damage of war.

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