’20 Days in Mariupol’ Sundance 2023 Review – A Shattering Firsthand Account Of Russia’s War On Ukraine

Note: This film contains scenes of destruction and death and may not be suitable for all audiences.

If perception is reality, it’s difficult to adequately describe the truth that 20 Days in Mariupol reveals.

More than just a traditional war documentary, 20 Days in Mariupol takes us behind the scenes of the most indelible, harrowing images to come out of the Ukrainian war. Ukrainian photojournalists with the Associated Press captured the pictures and video, risking their lives every second to painstakingly detail Russia’s siege of the critical port city of Mariupol. Their work appeared on newscasts worldwide, glimpses into a war-ravaged country and its brutalized and resilient people. The stories that news anchors and correspondents shared over the visuals shocked the international community, and rallied support for the Ukrainian war effort.

The morning and evening news glimpses are barely a quarter of the story. The whole story is much, much worse.

Filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov recounts his 20 days trapped in an active siege with the unflinching, horrifying weight it requires. He diligently and fearlessly captures every second his camera allows, no matter how devastating the sight is. The sheer amount of devastation before him and his team is staggering, almost unfathomable. We see homes destroyed by shelling and civilians crowded in apartment basements and gyms for mutual shelter. When the team arrives at a local hospital, the scenes defy detached descriptions of heartbreak. The camera watches as doctors try and ultimately fail to revive victims of shelling attacks. Lifeless bodies surrounded by spilled blood are left alone in makeshift operating rooms while the medical personnel tries to collect themselves and deliver the news to devastated loved ones.

Those moments, and there are many, are almost too much to bear. You can’t escape war’s cruelties, and Chernov refuses to hide them. You will see things that exceed whatever you thought you knew about the conflict, and they will haunt you. They haunt Chernov too. His voiceover is deliberately stoic and measured, but helplessness simmers underneath. He tries to comfort and report; the outreach is met with understandably mixed results. The bravery of the Ukrainian people stops disconnection from the unyielding devastation. The doctors, officers, shopowners, and everyday citizens insist that Chernov’s camera stays focused on them and demands our attention. Looking away would be to condemn these communities to death. The suffering, and their survival, are the point. 

20 Days in Mariupol also highlights the other critical value of Chernov’s reporting: speaking truth to relentless, powerful misinformation. At the film’s beginning, Chernov explains to a Ukrainian soldier that not documenting this “historical war is impossible.” It is more than a war on the ground, though. The war is also on the information highway, fed to millions of screens every minute. Chernov’s footage, sent to his editors via satellite, is one of the few firsthand accounts available to the world’s media. It also conflicts directly with the Russian government’s insistence that civilians are spared violence. 20 Days compares the searing imagery with the international response. Apallingly, Russian news outlets and government officials claim the AP footage was fake and that the victims of a maternity ward bombing were actors. It’s an outrageous, absurd fabrication that no one should believe, but Chernov leaves no room for doubt.

Watching 20 Days in Mariupol isn’t easy, and it shouldn’t be. You feel every single second tick by as the film explores the city’s systematic destruction. Seeing the bodies of lifeless men, women, and children pile up on streets and fill mass graves is emotionally shattering. You’ll want to look away, often. But you shouldn’t. To do that would be to deny the unthinkable human costs of the war and diminish the immeasurable risks and sacrifices required to share them with the world. 20 Days in Mariupol is soul-crushing, but watching it is the least anyone could do.

20 Days in Mariupol had its World Premiere in the World Documentary Competition section of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

Director: Mstyslav Chernov

Rated: NR

Runtime: 89m