2000 Meters to Andriivka
The director of 20 Days in Mariupol returns to the front line in Ukraine.
Image courtesy of Dogwoof Releasing.
It was in October 2023 that the Ukrainian documentary 20 Days in Mariupol was released in the UK but those who saw it then will not have forgotten it. It was the first film to be made by Mstyslav Chernov and it immediately revealed him to be a filmmaker of immense distinction, yet it was the subject matter which truly made it unforgettable. Chernov, who had been born in Kyiv and worked for the Associated Press as a photojournalist, happened to be in Mariupol on 24th February 2022 and witnessed at first hand the Russian invasion of the city. His film was a chronological inside view of that event and it would only break off twenty days later when to depart was essential if the pictures taken by Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka were to be brought out and widely seen.
In this new documentary Chernov again provides a voice-over but at one point he refers to the many men in Ukraine who, on being faced by Russia’s war, took up a gun whereas he himself turned to his camera. Seen in that light it is no surprise at all that for his second feature Chernov again gives us a close and detailed account of an aspect of the war in Ukraine. This time his focus is on the work of the Third Assault Brigade in September 2023 when their task was to capture the village of Andriivka which had been taken by the Russians, their response being part of Ukraine's counter-offensive. Clearly anxious to create a true record of the bravery of the soldiers as they advanced, Chernov obtained permission for himself and a second cameraman, Alex Babenko, to join the brigade as it sought to cover the 2000 meters (in our terms a distance of about a mile and a quarter) leading to Andriivka. This village in Eastern Ukraine is not that far from Bakhmut and the approach to it had to be on foot through a forested strip since on either side of it the open land had become a deadly minefield.
In the event the task in hand took five days and the film is shaped both by our knowledge of that objective and by the on-screen insertion of periodic figures which tell us how much closer to Andriivka the soldiers now are. As with the Mariupol film Chernov is working here with the talented editor Michelle Mizner and once again this is a skilled treatment of grim subject matter. However, in one important respect these two films are quite distinct. Those who saw 20 Days in Mariupol were given a rare insight into what it meant to be present in a city when it was overrun by enemy forces but in the case of this new work it covers ground that is very familiar. This is immediately brought home by a preface seen ahead of the film’s title. Here we are dealing with soldiers under fire in a devastated landscape with injury or death a constant possibility and it is all vivid enough to show that war is hell. But most of us know that already and, although we hear the names of individuals, these soldiers are not known to us. It is the kind of footage that we have seen many times before and also the kind of material that is at once depressing and horrifying.
Once the film proper begins, its grim nature remains unabated but now that is linked directly to the mission to recapture Andriivka which gives the film its shape and form. Furthermore, in addition to Chernov providing useful comments periodically in English, the film now starts to incorporate subtitled footage in which he talks to some of the soldiers in enough detail for us to respond to them in a personal way. Some are strikingly young and patently vulnerable in this macho world yet in some cases they remain surprisingly optimistic about winning the war. However, on more than one occasion, Chernov’s voice-over informs us that a soldier seen in the film has subsequently died. Although the course of the mission gives the film its natural progression, one of the deaths noted unexpectedly leads to the sudden insertion of footage showing mourners at funerals and then to an overhead shot of a massive cemetery. In some ways this might have seemed more in place had it been held back to provide a conclusion to the film.
As it is we return to the advance and see the brigade reach Andriivka. But this is no triumphant conclusion even if the Ukrainian flag now flies there. The village may officially have been liberated but there is nothing left of it. Indeed, the look of the place links with a quote from Ernest Hemingway in 1929 which is a bitter comment on war and which appears on screen at the start. To some extent one feels that the concluding scenes of 2000 Meters to Andriivka are themselves conflicted. Despite the ruined state of the village the soldiers seem ready to imagine its regrowth and a final roll call sounds positive. Nevertheless, it has already been confirmed that the counter-offensive is failing and the film’s concluding written statements cover the fact that Andriivka would subsequently be taken by the Russians once again. Furthermore, Chernov himself makes comments that question if it is really realistic to look to the future in optimistic terms. In the circumstances, whereas I was ready to urge people to see 20 Days in Mariupol almost as a duty, in this case I would be more sympathetic to anyone who wondered if they really wanted to put themselves through it. Nevertheless, this is another well-made film and one has total respect for Chernov and for the need that he felt as a patriot to put himself in danger so that this record of Ukrainian bravery would exist as part of the historical record.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Members of the Third Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
Dir Mstyslav Chernov, Pro Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath, Screenplay Mstyslav Chernov, Ph Mstyslav Chernov and Alex Babenko, Ed Michelle Mizner, Music Sam Slater.
Associated Features/Frontline Features-Dogwoof Releasing.
108 mins. Ukraine/USA. 2025. US Rel: 25 July 2025. UK Rel: 1 August 2025. Cert. 15.
