PBS' FRONTLINE: "2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA"

     War films featuring combat footage have been a popular kind of movie for years, deriving from dramatic fiction as well as documentary news. A recent one was TV's "20 Days in Mariupol" (2023 ) directed by Ukrainian Mstyslav Chernov: it was certainly an outstanding work capturing the fighting in a well-known city like Mariupol. On November 25, PBS' extraordinary documentary series, Frontline, ( in collaboration with Associated Press ) broadcasted a second film by Chernov called "2000 Meters to Andriivka." Same director, same war and same subject matter as the previous movie. Same production team. Both films making their way day-by-day and meter-by-meter to complete their missions.

     Yet these two works are very, very different. Chernov's current movie has won an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2025, along with other prestigious international prizes. Most importantly, it can truly be considered an example of cinematic art. Unlike "20 Days in Mariupol, " it has striking editing, moving cameras, and diverse points-of-view.  It also  expresses an ambiguity and contradictory philosophy that help explain a county and people that the world knows little about.

     For example, more than once the viewers hear a Ukrainian soldier say, " Don't make me out a hero." ( Yet he was one. ) Or we hear another soldier repeat, "I want to fight, not to serve." The audience is left with the ambiguous questions,  "Are the soldiers really heroes?"  "Are the men totally engaged in fighting or are they also serving the war?"

     Opposition is equally significant, becoming a visual technique. The film's opening shows a group of soldiers sitting in a trench; we do not see their faces or equipment. We can not imagine what awaits them outside the small space that engulfs them. The hand-held camera moves from one person to another: quickly, relentlessly. In the dark. About 15 minutes later, the image cuts from a dark small space showing a large green field flooded with sun. The camera angle is a bird's eye view. Space is expanded as is the landscape. The soldiers are out of the trench, and we will follow them meter by meter until they arrive at their destination, Andriivka., to save the town from the Russians. The director Chernov becomes the narrator during the journey. Is he the soldiers' guide and/or a member of the combat team?

     Visual opposition continues from long takes of a soldier talking about his life before the war to a still camera. Memories of the trenches remind us of images when the camera never stopped moving.

     As the film draws to an end, it is ambiguity that exerts its power. The soldiers finally come to a halt. There is nothing left to save from the Russians. The men talk about what they will do after the war is over.

     They will rebuild what was destroyed. It will be best to start over.