From Ukraine Trenches To Russia Schools, Sundance Docs Show Toll Of War

From Ukraine trenches to Russia schools, Sundance docs show toll of war

Park City, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Jan, 2025) "What if this war is until the end of our lives?" asks the shell-shocked Ukrainian soldier, who has just "liberated" a village from Russian forces.

There is little to celebrate in this moment, captured in "2000 Meters to Andriivka" -- one of two new documentaries at the Sundance film festival that chronicle the appalling impact of the conflict, from frontline trenches to faraway Russian schools.

The newly reclaimed village of Andriivka is a single street of bullet-pocked rubble. It will soon return to Russian hands.

And, as devastating footage from soldier head-cams makes graphically clear, every meter (yard) reclaimed has cost horrific injury and death.

In this follow-up to his Oscar-winning "20 Days in Mariupol," director Mstyslav Chernov shifts his focus from civilians to soldiers.

Chernov and his team embedded with Ukraine's counter-offensive in September 2023, crawling through a thin strip of forest, surrounded by deadly mine-riddled fields, toward Andriivka.

It plays like an all-too-real action movie, and Chernov admitted he was "worried people wouldn't see past the 'bang bang.'"

"It's an explanation of how soldiers in a war zone live," he told AFP.

Besides visceral depictions of fighting, "2000 Meters to Andriivka" displays the dark humor, quotidian concerns and dogged determination of the 3rd Assault Brigade.

"It was so nice in here," jokes one soldier, as the team leaves a damp, spider-infested foxhole, and heads once more into a hail of bullets.

"Best job in the world," quips another, as his comrade frets about not having fixed the toilet back home for his wife, while deadly shells and drones fly overhead.

Many of the soldiers shown in the film are now dead, the narrator explains.

Its world premiere at the Utah-based indie movie festival drew a tearful standing ovation.