The First Images from 20 Days in Mariupol
The initial footage for 20 Days in Mariupol came from a window in a building that could barely stand in the ruined Ukrainian city. A small team of journalists and a camera crew led by Mstyslav Chernov captured the moment when several Russian tanks, marked with the letter Z, rolled into view. As the scene unfolds, one tank begins to rotate its turret toward the camera position, and the footage ends with the sense of a story paused, returning to the siege’s opening day twenty days earlier.
20 Days in Mariupol, which earned the audience award at the most recent Sundance festival, opens with a stark, unsettling score and is widely regarded as one of the standout documentaries of the year. The film has received Oscar recognition in the documentary category and has recently premiered on a Spanish film platform. Chernov, a Ukrainian filmmaker, photojournalist, war correspondent, and writer, has reported from conflicts in Syria, Iraq, the Ukrainian Maidan movement, and the war in Donbas. His decision to go to Mariupol just hours before major combat began underscores the immediacy and risk of frontline reporting. For documenting the first 20 days of the siege, he has been honored with prestigious awards, including a Pulitzer Prize for public service recognition among others.
Many of the scenes from the film were used by television news outlets worldwide to counter misinformation that civilian targets and casualties did not exist in the Russian assault on Mariupol. In a moment that illustrates the tension between truth and denial, a Russian ambassador publicly questioned the authenticity of the footage, calling it fake and part of a misinformation campaign. The images capture the harrowing realities: four-year-old children dying in a hospital operating room, women sheltering in a corridor during bombardments, and pregnant women evacuated from a burning pediatric center after repeated attacks on civilians. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this documentary presents a raw, unfiltered chronicle of a siege that exposed brutal civilian suffering.
Aware of the material’s gravity, Chernov expanded the project into a feature-length documentary in collaboration with The Associated Press, an organization to which he has contributed as a journalist. After the menacing image of a tank aimed at the crew, the film returns to February 24, 2022—the first day of the siege. Streets are nearly empty, and a heavy silence pervades the city. The director observes that wars rarely begin with explosions; they begin with silence. What follows is a chronological account of the early days of indiscriminate attack, a record of a city under siege. Mariupol eventually fell to Russian forces on the 86th day of the conflict.
Geographically, Mariupol sits in the south of Ukraine, about 50 kilometers from Russia, as a port city that serves as a gateway to Crimea. This makes the city strategically valuable, and the footage underscores why it became a primary target in the invasion. The documentary presents an uneven struggle, influenced by broader political narratives and propaganda. Chernov’s work strives to present a piercing view of the conflict, rather than a neutral depiction, and confronts the portrayal of the war as a one-sided, simplistic evil perpetuated by external actors. The film counters such propaganda with unvarnished on-the-ground reality—scenes that challenge official narratives and demand accountability.
In the documentary, viewers witness civilians seeking shelter whenever the roar of artillery breaks the air. A gym becomes a crowded refuge where mirrors are taped with reckless urgency to avoid shattering glass. Nurses attempt life-saving resuscitation as a doctor asks to capture the girl’s eyes to convey the human impact of the conflict to global audiences. A man cradles his dying son on a stretcher, while the bombardment of a birthing center leaves lasting scars. The indiscriminate violence is punctuated by the surreal moment when a woman asks a looter why a football was taken, highlighting the irrationality born from war.
As a physician reflects during the siege, war is described with a stark metaphor: an x-ray reveals the inner wounds of all involved, from soldiers to survivors, looters, and those who issued orders that continue to be questioned in the face of gathered evidence. The film thus refuses to settle for easy judgments, instead presenting a forceful case for the human cost of conflict and the urgent need for truth in reporting.
In sum, 20 Days in Mariupol offers a powerful, unflinching portrayal of frontline life under siege. It is a documentary that not only records events but also challenges the narratives that attempt to minimize civilian suffering. The footage and testimonies compile a testament to resilience, the fragility of civilian life in wartime, and the relentless pursuit of truth amidst propaganda and denial.
Related posts:
20 Days in Mariupol: A Raw Record of Siege and Survival Mariupol in the Ukraine War: Symbol, Strategy, and the Donbas Crucible Rebuilding Mariupol: Voices from the Ground and the Road Ahead Yuri Chernov on Positivity, Rain, and a Lifelong Acting Journey Ukraine War in Focus: New Frontline Stories and Personal Voices Volgograd Torch festival frames tensions between veteran actors from Russia and Ukraine Explosions in Mariupol and Surrounding Frontline Regions: Updated Report Mariupol’s Liberation: A Narrative of Resilience and Renewal siege film review rewritten Reconstruction Milestones and Transport Revival in Mariupol Gaps in memory: Leningrad blockade and memory in Germany today Ukraine at War: A Year of Conflict and Resilience