Documentary Notes: 20 Days in Mariupol

What is the film about? #

Shown are early days of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, from a civilian perspective, in one of the first cities that was hit. The footage is a raw, only lightly editorialized Ukrainian perspective on the ground. We see what the early stage of the war did to regular people.

Main themes #

Good people; bad people

War is like an x-ray, all human insides become visible. Good people become better, bad people worse.

Your real character is revealed and enhanced in extraordinary circumstances. The good people work tirelessly in the hospital and go out of their way to help strangers, those in need.

The bad go around, loot and pillage their own neighborhood: The toy store and hair saloon. They take selfishly for themselves, without reason or regard for others.

Phones without cell towers

A few days into the war, the Russians cut the electricity and the cell towers. Smartphones, so overused in normal life, turned almost useless.

People charge cellphones from a generator. Just to use them as flashlights.

This was a huge problem for our journalists as well. In the first days of the war, they could easily send their pictures and video from anywhere. Suddenly, no signal. Based on a tip, they found the last spot in the city, which still had reception. That place became an inconvenient, regular, dangerous destination.

The information war

Without any information, people don’t know who to blame.

In one scene, the journalists spoke to a group of people, about what happened around the city.

• Person 1: Who is bombing us? Tell us.
• Journalist: The Russian Federation planes are bombing you.
• […]
• Person 2: Yeah, yeah, keep filming us. [The] Ukrainian army is fucking bombing us.

Russian propaganda

Obviously there would be blatant lies in the Russian, state-controlled media. But this scene stuck out for it’s unexpected audacity. The female reporter can’t believe it!

• Female reporter: We’ve seen mass graves. Narrow trenches with babies bodies in them. AP Journalists have been there.
• Russian ambassador to the UN: I’ve seen so many fakes. [He] who wins the information war, [will be] the one who wins the war.
• Female reporter: Do you really, truely believe that? Do you truely believe what you are saying?
• Russian ambassador to the UN:

  

And Russia is intent on winning the war! No matter the means.

War crimes and an urban wasteland

While watching I asked myself: What is the point of laying waste to the whole city? The Russians targeted civilian residential areas, specifically. They primarily used artillery fire and shelling from afar. One could argue that these are not so precise and could have been aimed at something else. But there were also tanks on the ground, shooting multiple rounds through tall apartment buildings, something that could serve no military objective.

What could be the point for Russia to bomb out residential areas, hospitals and fire stations? Maybe to:

• Get the civilians out of the city. Some high percentage left while they had the chance. This would mean less people who are aiding or abetting the enemy fighters.
• Demonstrate strength. Strike fear into the enemy and it’s population. Make them want to surrender. That kind of behavior can have the opposite effect though. It can inspire resistance, feelings of revenge. It can serve as ammunition for the other side. Ukraine can (and did) use these atrocities to recruit international help.
• Force the displacement of the local population and, after annexing the area, integrate it into Russia and bring in Russian citizens to take over this strategic city.

But there are so many more questions with this behavior:

• Why are they intentionally committing war crimes?¹
  “They can’t persecute us anyway and we already got all of these sanctions, fuck it.”???
• Why are they spending all of that money on arms, just to flatten buildings with no tactical value?
• Are they not interested in using the city after they it over for themselves? That’s a lot of infrastructure and private property damage to repair before normalcy can return.

Conclusions #

Well worth watching. You get a civilian perspective on war. This being a documentary makes what you see more impactful, than the many fictional movies about war I’ve watched.