It would be fair to expect a solemn follow-up to “20 Days In Mariupol” after director Mstyslav Chernov compiled footage of the destruction of his native Ukraine for the Oscar-winning documentary, with the war against Russia aggression still ongoing and countless other communities reduced to rubble. However, “2000 Meters to Andriivka” is defiantly not that, tossing audiences into a foxhole as soon as it begins and rarely lets them come up for air during the hour-and-a-half that follows. Not since Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger’s “Restrepo” (or its sequel “Korengal”) has there been such a visceral and immersive view from the front lines of combat and if news travels around the world that the country is a lost cause, the film exists against all odds to show a fight that’s far from over, despite the devastating toll its taken on the Ukrainian people, and dares others not to take action themselves.
Such a direct invitation is created by the practical limitations of filming in the field as Chernov receives footage from the helmet cams of the 3rd Assault Brigade, sent on a mission to reclaim the village of Andriivka that sits between Russia and Ukraine and is seen as key to a counteroffensive to claw back any territory that the Russians have tried to take during their invasion. The director, who notes it’s now dangerous to wear a blue journalist vest that’s supposed to protect anyone covering the war, nonetheless embeds with the platoon, but the majority of camerawork is done by the soldiers themselves with a first-person perspective similar to “Call of Duty,” allowing the film to meet modern audiences where they live as it accesses a comparable degree of full-on personal investment even when what’s going on in front of you is well out of anyone’s control.
The end goal of the 3rd Assault Brigade may be quite simple – to plant a flag in Andriivka to mark it as Ukrainian territory, but getting there across a forest where gunfire could be coming from any direction is an impossibly tall task and the soldiers hardly know what they’ll find once they actually arrive when so many other places left with no landmarks standing to recognize them. Although the film largely resists gloaming onto individual characters, the platoon is led by Feyda, a striking figure for the resistance as a commander who insists on his soldiers training and cleaning their weapons on the mornings they’ll be going into battle and chooses to see the war as an opportunity to rebuild rather than concede what’s been lost.
Chernov inevitably becomes a main character as well, despite clearly preferring being in the background, and being well-aware of the unique position he has in various respects makes “2000 Meters to Andriivka” transcendent beyond its depiction of the raw reality of war. “2000 Meters to Andriivka” does offer sporadic sonic bursts of international news reports, all largely to say that they’re prevented from reporting on what Chernov is and the danger of filming has broadly complicated a global response when few can see what’s happening on the ground. The director also gradually lends his voice to the proceedings as a narrator, able to not only give historical context to the people and places that fleetingly make it onto the screen, but bound to send a chill down your spine when he can talk about the immediate future when the film was shot in September 2023 and even more death and destruction has occurred before he could get out of the edit room.
Viewers should be warned that “2000 Meters to Andriivka” doesn’t flinch from footage of a soldier staggering to his death upon being shot, though it’s obvious Chernov and editor Michelle Mizner practice considerable restraint when it comes to graphic violence and the film impressively is never so overwhelming as to want to look away. Instead, it encourages the opposite when even the most shocking images threaten to grow tiresome after the war against Ukraine has gone on for so long and its unprecedented look at the battlefield is powerful enough to break through.
“2000 Meters to Andriivka” will screen again at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24th at 1:10 pm at the Megaplex Redstone 2, January 25th at 6 pm at the Broadway Centre Cinemas in Salt Lake City, January 29th at noon at Egyptian Theatre and January 31st at 8:45 pm at the Library Center Theatre. It will also be available to screen online from January 30th through February 2nd via Sundance’s virtual platform.