The first images of ’20 days in Mariupol’ were taken from the window of a barely standing building in the destroyed Ukrainian city. The footage was recorded by a small team of journalists and cameras led by Mstyslav Chernov. The things they show on the street Several Russian tanks with the famous letter Z on their armor. Suddenly the gun of one of these tanks begins to rotate and rise in the direction of the window where the film was shot. The action ends here, as in a story of anticipation and the film goes back 20 days to the first day of the Russians’ siege of the city.
’20 Days in Mariupol’, which won the audience award at the last Sundance festival, starts off very strong, accentuated by, let’s say, disturbing music, and is considered one of the best films of the year. , is Nominated for an Oscar in the documentary category and today launches the Film platform in Spain. Its director, Mstyslav Andriyovich Chernov, is a Ukrainian filmmaker, photojournalist, war correspondent and writer who has previously covered conflicts in Syria and Iraq, the Ukrainian Maidan revolution and the war in Donbas. Expert in the field, He decided to go to Mariupol a few hours before the start of the fighting. For his coverage of the first 20 days of the siege of the city, he was given the following award: Pulitzer Prize to public service, among many other awards.
Many of these images were used on television news programs around the world to counter false information claiming that there were no civilian targets or victims in Vladimir Putin’s government’s attack on the city. In a moment that reflects human hypocrisy like few others, The Russian ambassador declared in front of some journalists that these images were fake and completely fictional.The fruit of the misinformation war. These are four-year-old girls dying in a hospital operating room, women taking shelter in a corridor from a bombing, or Pregnant women being evacuated from burning pediatric center Following numerous attacks on civilian targets. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this documentary is the rawest and most real of the chronicles.
Aware of the material at hand, Chernov decided to give it a feature-length documentary format. Co-produced by The Associated PressAn organization of which the director is a part. After the menacing image of the tank pointing at the film crew, the film returns to February 24, 2022, the first day of the siege. There are very few people on the streets. Absolute silence. “Wars do not begin with explosions, they begin with silence.”says the director. What follows is a chronicle, some insensitive, of the first 20 days of the indiscriminate attack. Mariupol fell to the Russians in the 86th.
Located in the south of Ukraine, 50 kilometers from Russia, Mariupol is the gateway to Crimea, an industrial city with a large port. It’s a strategic place. In other words, everyone knew that this region would be one of the first and main targets of Putin’s invasion. As the images prove, it is an unequal struggle. Do they have an ideological construct? True, as is the case with almost all war documentaries or other subjects. This seemingly neutral image is not independent of a discourse or an orientation. In the case of Chernov’s work, it’s about capturing that shattering reality that Russian government propaganda sources counter by saying it’s an “evil.” staging with extras and extras.
In this way, we witness the search for safe shelter every time the roar of Russian warriors is heard: Dozens of people hide in a gym and They put tape on the mirrors to break them into as few pieces as possible. Or the terrible scene where some nurses try to resuscitate a sterile four-year-old girl and the doctor asks Chernov to record this girl’s eyes and show them to Putin. Or the image of a man cradling his dying son on a stretcher. Or the effects of the bombs at the birthing center. Also the irrationality caused by every war: During the sack of the city, a woman asks a man why he stole a football.
“War is like an x-ray. Human intestines come to light”A doctor told Chernov in the middle of the conflict. That of the soldiers, the survivors, the looters, and the politicians who ordered the attack and who continue to deny war crimes despite filmed evidence.
Source: Informacion
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