A war is a curse to mankind. Our beloved world has been brutally ravaged by numerous wars for many centuries. Countess people have lost their lives, wealth, family members, homes, and almost everything. The greed for power of a few has resulted in the massacre of millions of innocent civilians. There is no end to this tragedy. Countless innocent Ukrainians have been going through the same tragedy since Feb 24, 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation on Ukraine. Immediately after this announcement, the Russian Armed Forces started invading the beautiful Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. The complete siege of the city ended almost after three months on 20th May 2022. The brave Ukrainian journalist of Associated Press Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues spent three weeks in the besieged city of Mariupol and captured the raw footage of human suffering. Even though they captured 30-hour footage, they could send only 40 minutes because of poor internet connection. However, they could show the reality to the entire world only through these 40 minutes of footage that the Russian Armed Forces attacked innocent civilians. Finally, they could escape Mariupol with thirty-hour footage through a humanitarian corridor without being caught. Mstyslav’s thirty-hour raw footage of the besieged city of Mariupol spanned across 20 days was turned into a feature documentary in association with PBS’s Frontline. It reflects on the enormous suffering of innocent civilians due to the breakout of an infamous war. The value of human lives seems to be trivial in front of a power-hungry superpower.
20 Days in Mariupol starts with a strong message from the director Mstyslav Chernov, “Wars don’t start with explosions, they start with silence.” When he drives along the empty streets of Mariupol, the city remains at a standstill as a silent spectator awaiting its tragic fate. President of Russia Vladimir Putin announces on a live telecast that Russia does not want to occupy Ukrainian territories and impose anything on anyone by force. Their actions are self-defense against the threats posed to them. An elderly woman has come out of her house and is crying in panic that it could be shelled at any time. Director Chernov assures and consoles her that they won’t hit the houses of ordinary citizens. But, he was proven wrong. One shell hits the roof of a civilian house nearby. In another heartbreaking incident, a completely charred dead cat is seen lying on the ground. There are no specific directives to evacuate Mariupol but people are desperately leaving anyway. At this tumultuous time, people are angry and in no mood to speak to the director. However, they can’t be blamed for their behavior at this trying time.
Panicked people are living in deplorable situations everywhere in Mariupol. They are taking shelter in the basement of the multi-storied buildings with pets, children, and old people without proper electricity, food, drinking water, and internet connections. Hospitals are running out of medicine stocks. However, the residents of Mariupol are, still, hopeful that everything will be alright. These unbearable tragic moments will also pass. When director Chernov asks a teary-eyed young girl why she is upset, she replies that she doesn’t want to die and prays the war ends soon. The helpless faces of the innocent children appear on the screen. 190000 Russian troops start invading Ukraine from the northern, eastern, and southern borders. 25% of the residents have already left the city, but most of the residents have decided to stay in their beloved city of Mariupol. A fitness center has been turned into the biggest improvised center of the city. Innocent civilians ask in excruciating pain, “What did we do to deserve this?”
Even though the Russian troops largely outnumber the Ukrainian forces, they keep fighting fiercely not to relinquish Mariupol, an important port city of strategic importance just 30 km away from Russia. A four-year-old girl named Evangelina gets hit by a shell, her eyes get badly injured, and she dies on the hospital bed despite the tremendous efforts by the doctors to save her. One of the doctors asks director Chernov to film all these devastating incidents and show the world how Putin’s army is attacking innocent civilians. Though most of the journalists have already left Mariupol, director Chernov and his colleagues elongate their stay a few days more. They don’t want to leave behind helpless and innocent civilians and doctors in such terrible circumstances.
Incessant shelling kills a sixteen-year-old boy named Ilya when he was playing soccer on the school playground. Both of his legs were blown off. Heartbreaking cries of his father are echoed in the surroundings of Mariupol. Director Mstyslav utters a crucial line – “It’s painful to watch. But, it must be painful to watch.” Russian troops start shelling on and around the emergency hospital. Another boy who was playing soccer with Ilya got hit by the shelling and was taken to the emergency hospital. His legs may need to be amputated as there is no antibiotic left to stop the sepsis. In these devastating circumstances, doctors continue to work without electricity, water, heat, and painkillers. The morgue is full, so, they store the dead bodies in utility rooms. Director Mstyslav and his colleagues stay and sleep on the 7th floor of the emergency hospital which seems to be the safest place in Mariupol. In another heartbreaking incident, an eighteen-month-old baby Kyryl loses his life getting hit by shelling. He shakes his hand one last time before leaving this cruel world. His grieving father tries to console his bereaved mother. She kisses him for the last time. Chernov tries the whole night to get those images out but the internet connection does not work.
In this horrific situation, director Mstyslav Chernov laments about the past. He thinks about all his beloved country Ukraine has been through over the past 8 years, all that he and his colleagues have filmed – revolution of dignity, Crimea’s annexation, Russia’s invasion of Donbas, MH17, Donetsk airport siege. Wars seem endless and thousands have died, still, they keep filming and things stay the same or even worse. Propaganda turns everything upside down.
A middle-aged woman named Ludmila cries profusely as the Russian Armed Forces destroy her house. She cries out in anger that they have no food, electricity, drinking water, and medicines. What should she do now? Where will she go? At this terrible time, people steal from shops. A lady owner cries out in anger that people have lost their morals even at this trying time. A doctor told the director at the emergency hospital that a war is like an x-ray. The inner side of all humans becomes visible. Good people become better and bad people become worse. Isolation, inability to contact relatives, and the situations in other cities are making people desperate and restless. Nobody knows how to get out of all these tragedies.
Even when Mariupol is shattered by the Russian Armed Forces, the residents, still, possess national pride and deep love for their beloved motherland. Despite life risks, they have not fled their beloved country. One female resident proudly says, “I feel sorry for my city, for the people. I feel sorry for the children. I don’t want it to belong to Russia. I don’t want to live in Russia. I want to live in Ukraine. I don’t want Russia here. I absolutely don’t want, not even a bit.”
Director Mstyslav Chernov struggles to send the footage due to poor internet connection. He splits it into multiple ten-second clips, sets three phones on the windowsill, and sends those clips to the editors. Dead bodies of innocent civilians are scattered on the streets. The government sanitation workers are bringing those dead bodies to dump in the mass grave. Chernov recognizes Ilya’s dead body, who was killed by the Russian forces while playing soccer. It is also dumped in the mass grave. The sanitation worker is heartbroken and will start crying if he tries to speak. Ukrainian soldier Vladimir accuses the Russian Armed Forces of committing war crimes. They shell and destroy a maternity hospital in central Mariupol. At this crisis hour, Ukraine needs help from the international community. Russian ambassador denies the attack on the maternity hospital, refers to it as fake news, and claims a film shooting was taking place by the actors and extras.
Russian troops are destroying the education system of Mariupol day by day. They destroy the biggest university in the city. Innocent civilians lose their houses. An old man loses his house due to a shell attack and is roaming around for 4 hours amid heavy firing. He has nowhere to go. A big shrapnel is removed from a patient’s body. A pregnant woman Iryna dies along with her unborn baby in the womb. A woman loses her seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old son due to shelling on his brother’s house. The agonized woman asks, “Who will return our children to us?” Z-marked Russian tanks enter Ukrainian territory and start shooting at the residential buildings. Director Mstyslav Chernov and his colleagues attempt to escape Mariupol through a humanitarian corridor along with the Red Cross convoy. They need to escape the city safely. If they are caught, Russians will make them say that everything published was a lie, and their atrocities on innocent Ukrainians will never be known to the world.