'20 Days in Mariupol', a documentary film that deeply stirs the conscience

@ElentirENG ES 5·04·2024 · 23:24 0

Today I attended a showing of a documentary film that talks about the terrible Siege of Mariupol, which completely devastated that Ukrainian city.

Mariupol before the invasion, seen by a photographer killed by the Russians
'Sniper: The White Raven': A Ukrainian war film in the midst of the invasion of Ukraine

The siege began on February 24, 2022, the same day as the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and lasted 86 days. The documentary film "20 days in Mariupol" shows the material recorded by a team of journalists from the Associated Press agency during the first 20 days of the siege. Material with enormous journalistic and historical value, which includes the Russian attack on a maternal and child hospital in Mariupol, an attack that not only demonstrated the vileness and inhumanity of the invaders , but it was also the objective of a wave of disinformation by the Kremlin and its propagandists to try to deny the war crimes committed by the Russians.

The film shows day by day, for almost three weeks, the horror that the residents of Mariupol had to suffer. The images recorded in one of the city's hospitals are especially harsh, specifically the scenes of parents crying over the death of their children, some of them very young, due to Russian attacks.

Before the war, Mariupol had around half a million inhabitants. The Russians murdered more than 25,000 civilians in that city and more than 50,000 were deported. We are talking about war crimes and crimes against humanity against which there were hardly any protest demonstrations in countries where the extreme left has demonstrated from the first moment against Israel after the Hamas terrorist attack.

After seeing this film, I think that its director, the reporter Mstyslav Chernov, and the photographer Evgeniy Maloletka, deserve more than the Oscar award that they have obtained with it. Their work as journalists has been admirable and an example for the entire profession, especially at a time when journalism is going through a great crisis.

A special mention also for the health personnel who were working in the hospitals and streets of Mariupol during the siege, witnessing horrific scenes every day, seeing children and babies die, and having to face their work with a great lack of medicines due to the Russian blockade against the city.

The Ukrainian soldiers who defended Mariupol also deserve to be remembered, especially those who resisted until the last day at the Azovstal steelworks facilities. They are an example of patriotism, and not the miserable people who have dedicated themselves to defaming and slandering them from their homes through social networks.

Finally, this film is a great tribute to Mariupol and its inhabitants. A beautiful city and peaceful people that were destroyed by a dictator who seems determined to imitate great criminals in history like Hitler and Stalin.

I take this opportunity to point out that in this pass, organized by the AGA Ucraína association (whose work is also deserves applause) we had the honor of having the testimony of a woman who lived through the 86 days of the Siege of Mariupol. A testimony that, like this film, deeply stirs the conscience. Someday history will ask us what we have done to denounce the atrocities that Russia is committing in Ukraine, and then many of us will feel great shame for all the moments in which we could have said something and remained silent.

I highly recommend you go see this excellent film. You can see the trailer here: