Review: ‘20 Days in Mariupol’ shows the shocking beginnings of Russia-Ukraine war

导演MstyslavChernov and team were among first to document brutal atrocities in Ukraine.

Photographer Evgeniy Maloletka points at the smoke rising after an airstrike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 9, 2022. From the documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.”

Photo: Mstyslav Chernov/Associated Press

Journalist Mstyslav Chernov has a fear that in the future, years after the war in Ukraine ends, his daughter will look him in the eye and ask, “What did you do to help end this violence?”

“I want to be able to give her an answer,” he says.

The videographer’s first documentary, “20 Days in Mariupol,” is the answer.

在一个人们躲避青年剧院in Mariupol on March 6, 2022. From the documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.”

Photo: Mstyslav Chernov/Associated Press

Chernov was part of an Associated Press crew of Ukranian journalists, along with still photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and field producer Vasilisa Stepanenko, who were the only known journalists to document the siege of Mariupol, a geographically strategic city, by Russian forces. The siege lasted 86 days, killing at least 25,000 people and likely significantly more. Most of the victims were civilians. While the war in Ukraine is not going well for Russia at the moment, it has held Mariupol since May 2022.

The events covered in “20 Days in Mariupol” begin on Feb. 24, 2022, soon afterRussian forces entered Ukraineto begin the conflict. Chernov’s camera captures rocket attacks and explosions, neighborhoods reduced to rubble, and Ukrainian soldiers evacuating civilians and trying to keep some semblance of peace. One of them tells fleeing citizens, “Don’t panic.”

Mostly, Chernov’s camera captures fear. This being the early days of the conflict, many of Mariupol’s citizens wander the streets in disbelief.Is this actually happening?

Ukrainian emergency employees and police officers evacuate injured pregnant woman Iryna Kalinina, 32, from a maternity hospital that was damaged by a Russian airstrike in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 9, 2022.

Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated Press

A fitness center becomes a makeshift shelter; volunteers heavily tape the floor-to-ceiling mirrors to minimize the shards of glass should the place get shelled. People use generators to charge their cell phones, but not to make calls or get news updates — cell towers are down — but to use them as flashlights.

Obviously, there is explicit detail. There are deaths in makeshift hospitals and cemeteries with numbers marking graves instead of names.

Although the war in Ukraine is still raging, “20 Days in Mariupol” is already a historical document. So much has happened in the warin the 16 monthssince these events, and graphic, front-lines reporting is now ubiquitous.

Evgeniy Maloletka, a photographer, picks his way through the aftermath of a Russian attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2022.

Photo: Mstyslav Chernov/Associated Press

However, Chernov’s team was among the first to document what many say are war crimes by Russian troops, and it provided an early window into the conflict for Western news media.

“I wish I could have done more,” Chernov says in the film.

But he and his team did plenty, and for that, we owe them a debt.

Reach G. Allen Johnson:ajohnson@sfchronicle.com; Twitter:@BRFilmsAllen

More Information

3 stars“20 Days in Mariupol”:War documentary. Directed by Mstyslav Chernov. (Not rated. 95 minutes.) Opens Friday, July 21. Screening with Chernov in person at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 22. $5-$14. Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., S.F.roxie.com.• Special one-day screening, with Chernov in person, at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, July 23. $9.75-$13.50. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael.cafilm.org

  • G. Allen Johnson
    G. Allen Johnson

    G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.