20 Days in Mariupol

This documentary is about as real as it gets. The film is pieced together from footage shot in Mariupol during February and March 2022. You might have already seen snippets, especially from the maternity hospital, but this takes you day by day and includes some less common materials.

I won't get into the usual critiques of quality or story flow. That would be idiotic. They captured what they could in the midst of war, when everything including electricity for their cameras was at scarce. It surprises me that some reviewers are complaining, as if this were some Hollywood production in the making for five years. Jesus.

I recommend watching it. The war is ongoing, and it won't just disappear because we're tired of it. It serves as a powerful reminder to the world about what's happening in Ukraine every day.

This is a brilliant, moving, audacious documentary from an extremely talented videographer and team, and deserves at least an Emmy and, even more preferably, an Oscar, but awards are not enough for this exceptional work.

This is a rare, you-are-there experience, in which you are immersed in the Russian takeover of a city in the Ukraine, and where you feel every emotion that these poor beseighed people feel.

The documentary starts on the week of March in which the Russian oligarch Putin (not the President, which would mean that he was elected) announces to the people of Ukraine that he is about to invade the country, and within moments, actually does launch a full-scale invasion, and we watch it happen almost moment by moment. Bombs fall on Soviet-style apartment complexes at a rate of hundreds a day, and the entire landscape soon begins to resemble the aftermath of Hiroshima.

But what is most dynamic is the actual impact on the people themselves, many of whom do not know who is bombing them. Astounding. Watching children, pregnant moms, and hospital workers taking the worst beating of all is utterly depressing, but, like all medicine, needs to be taken and swallowed whole.

Overall, this documentary is one of the most heart-wrenching, devastating, tear-jerking experiences ever. You owe it to yourself to see this to get the full effect, since words can never describe how much of an impact it will have on you.

It is a shame that it would only be available on PBS, since that will alienate at least 95% of the population that needs to watch it, but if there is even a smidgen of justice left in the world, the few who see it will tell everyone they know, and hopefully, something will come from it.

Thanks to the brave filmmakers who told this shocking story.

I saw this in a well-attended cinema screening just the other day. I can't recall a film having the impact this one did. At the end credits - silence. No one said a word and slowly filtered out. Its difficult not being effected by this film, as it confronts the viewer with the sort of hard-hitting stuff that the news generally air-brushes out. Its pretty much the exact opposite of comfort viewing - this film confirms not only are things bad but they are probably a lot worse than you imagined them to be.

As the title indicates, this is a ground level view of events in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in the first 20 days of the Russian invasion. A disembodied voice-over relates details and an ominous soundtrack magnifies certain moments but mostly, the footage speaks for itself. The basic set-up has journalist Mstyslav Chernov stay behind to film events as the horror of war escalates on a daily basis. From Chernov's position, we are put directly into the war zone and are confronted with the civilian experience. To this end, we are forced to see the terror and suffering that these innocent people are forced to endure on account of a war initiated for utterly disingenuous reasons. While this is clearly a film about the Ukrainian situation and the sheer wrongness of the Russian invasion, it also will get you thinking that it is also about war in general, as these shocking moments are happening all over our world as part of various military conflicts. We can become desensitised to this and our news reporting is often far too sanitised, allowing us to more easily disconnect. Its films like this one which approaches war in the opposite way and ensures the viewer has no easy escape.

I think this documentary needs to be added on YouTube and watched for free, specially in Russia! Everyone have to see how russian army killed civilians, women, children. This documentary is an evidence of the war!

I was crying heavily during all movie. I was always thinking "what happened to the people who were caught on camera? Are they alive? What happened to this little girl which was born? Did this man got to his wife? Did the boy survived? What happened to a policeman? Is he still alive? How about this doctor who was shouting about Putin? Where is he? Is he ok? What about these military men? " I couldn't stop thinking about these people!

I don't usually include reviews on documentaries on this blog, but '20 Days in Mariupol' is a documentary that needs to be seen. This is current, relevant, and illustrates the horrors of war.

On February 24th, 2022 the city of Mariupol in Ukraine still looked normal. In the words of the narrator: "Wars don't start with explosions; it starts with silence." A Journalist team captures the outbreak of war, and documents how a city is reduced to ruins and rubble within just 20 days.

There are no actors here. There's no make-up, no CGI, no green/blue screen effects, no visual effects. We get to see the events unfold through the lens of a camera of men on the run fearing for their lives - raw footage. The documentary plays like a found footage sci-fi thriller, but this is real life with real people.

'20 Days in Mariupol' is harrowing to watch, and it is heartbreaking - more so because this is not fiction or fantasy. The film had me very emotional at times, so get that box of tissues before watching this. This ain't no popcorn flick; it is a hard-hitting documentary. Yes, it is depressing - as war generally is - but the world needs to see this. I'm so glad '20 Days in Mariupol' won the Oscar for Best Documentary. The film editing was also very good.