2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA - Mark Reviews Movies

2000 Meters to Andriivka, PBS Distribution

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Review by Mark Dujsik | July 24, 2025

Outside the Ukrainian village of Adriivka, there's a narrow stretch of forest. When Russia invaded that sovereign country in February of 2022 and occupied the village a several months later, either side of the forest became a minefield, meaning the only way into the place was through the trees. The forest extends just over a mile, which translates to a two-minute drive or a ten-minute run, according to narration by filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov, but no vehicles are reaching Adriivka in 2023 with the start of a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Running isn't exactly an option for local soldiers, either, when Russian military forces are shooting and launching mortar rounds into the trees.

2000 Meters to Andriivka is a documentary about this particular battle in the Ukrainian counteroffensive. No one on the front lines or stationed in a nearby military headquarters knows if the operation will succeed or how other similar missions are going. In this moment in September, the only thing that matters is marching across, crawling through, and taking shelter within that forest, as soldiers take fire and avoid shelling. Chernov is there, too, with a camera, which leads the commander of the brigade on the ground if the filmmaker might have brought anything else with him. A gun of any kind would be best.

Chernov, of course, sees his role in the war, not as a fighter (although he doesn't wear anything to identify himself as a journalist, because that would make him a "priority target" to Russian soldiers). Instead, he is someone who can make the world pay attention to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, to the bravery of ordinary citizens who volunteered to fight for their country, and to the utter devastation this war has brought. By the end of this harrowing film, we have a painfully clear idea of all three of those things, while being reminded that attention is still required if anything is going to change.

Much of this documentary takes place at the ground level of combat, with Chernov filming significant portions of the footage, being embedded with the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, and helmet-mounted cameras from assorted soldiers on the front lines providing the rest. The footage is startling—not only because people are shot and/or killed right in front of us, but also because of how confusing and desperate it is.

There are moments when one of those helmet cameras will capture the soldier wearing it raising his rifle with one hand, and we don't need to see the fear and turmoil on his face. That rifle isn't aimed at anything but the ground, because to elevate it enough to shoot at anyone or anything would be for the soldier to expose himself to enemy fire. The cameras here aren't attempting to make war "exciting," in the vein of a gung-ho war movie or the first-person-shooter video games some of the footage resembles. It is, instead, utterly terrifying, because we can see what's right in front of the solider and attempt to imagine what that man is experiencing.

That Chernov's film is being released now, as the war continues and support for the Ukrainian cause against Russia's continuing aggression has slowed or stalled, is appropriate. Whether or not it makes a political impact is still to be seen, obviously, and, also, somewhat irrelevant to the power and influence of the film itself. The documentary feels vital, because it could make a case for continued or restarted support for Ukraine among countries and leaders who may have become numb to the conflict or who, in the case of one world leader in particular, seems to an interest or several ones in a different direction.

The film also possesses, however, a quality beyond current world politics or even this specific conflict. It shows us the horrors of war in a way that few films have or could, because this is real. These are real people, whose lives have been interrupted by an invading force and who want nothing but for their lives, homes, families, and country to return to some kind of normalcy. That's impossible under the circumstances, though, so in the meantime, they must fight.

Chernov introduces us to some of these soldiers. One is the on-the-ground commander, a 24-year-old man named Fedya, who worked a warehouse job until Russia invaded and has a scar on his lip—not from actual combat, but from playing soldiers as a child. His right-hand man is another soldier codenamed "Freak," who explains the situation and the upcoming meeting with the commanding officer to Chernov and the squad that the filmmaker is accompanying. Chernov's narration interrupts the man, in order to point out his impressions of "Freak," his own feelings about being in this situation, and that the man on screen will be injured in a matter of months from this moment. No one will find his body.

It's not the last time Chernov must make such an observation. While taking cover in a foxhole as more mortar rounds explode through the forest, Chernov meets another soldier who doesn't want to appear on camera. He hasn't done anything "heroic," after all, and doesn't want to be seen that way. That man is in his 40s, a grandfather, and finally realizing the way his wife has worried about him, because he worries about her and how she's living in the midst of war now. He, too, will be dead in a few months, Chernov informs us in voice-over, while making the case to the man, in that moment, that his presence here alone is more heroic than he believes or understands.

There is more death—of soldiers we meet and those whose bodies are waiting to be recovered from the forest—and devastation, as the brigade gets closer to Andriivka and Chernov wonders if the counteroffensive could have any practical, tactical, or lingering effect. It's an open question at the end of 2000 Meters to Andriivka and, for that matter, now—almost two years after the documentary was filmed. Death and devastation are the only definitive answers here.

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