Hot Docs 2025 - 2000 Meters to Andriivka Review



Academy award winner Mstyslav Chernov’s 2000 Meters to Andriivka opens with one of the most harrowing sequences you’ll ever see in a documentary. We’re dropped right into the trenches with Ukrainian soldiers outside Russian occupied lands, and a bomb is heading right their way. Bones are shattered, blood curdling screams are heard, and multiple men are left behind. These are images you’d only expect to see in the most Hollywood of war films. However, twice in a row, (following 20 Days in Mariupol, which won him his Oscar) Chernov has risked his own life to get the horrors Ukrainians are facing daily, on an authentic basis. It’s worth getting out the way that this is no small feat. No other filmmaker on his scale has been able to present the real versions of these images, the type that need to be seen to be believed. This time, he’s showing the journey of a few GoPro strapped Ukrainian soldiers, trudging through the most dangerous 2 kilometres they’ll ever travel. If successful, it will lead them to Andriivka - Ukrainian land that had been occupied by Russia - and they can take back what’s rightfully theirs. It’s long, gruelling, traumatizing, always impressive, but only sometimes emotionally valuable. 

That opening scene is essential, and so are a few other moments scattered throughout the film. An extended, minutes-long montage of destroyed buildings contains no bloodshed or death, unlike much of the remainder of the film. It’s likely the most powerful image of the film - along with others of soldiers conversing longingly about home, and what it means to them. What really feels frustrating here is these moments of catharsis being so few and far between. We don’t learn anything about Andriivka, its residents, what it once looked like, or learn about any of these men and their background. Sure, you could consider this part of the exercise, and immerse yourself into the sheer terror and spectacle - like many have. But it’s hard to watch something like this - and not as a compliment - when you are being showered with this deeply violent imagery when it has no purpose beyond telling you how awful war is (and all viewers should know this). Its repetition of this imagery without any context raises too many ethical questions to view without batting an eye. But its importance is rooted in the fact that it *could* be made - which is astonishing enough to not completely dismiss it.  


Rating: 5/10



Hot Docs 2025 runs until May 4th. Tickets are available at hotdocs.ca. 2000 Meters to Andriivka will screen on PBS as part of their Frontline program on a TBD 2025 date. 

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