If you have an hour and a half, an interest in reality, and a measure of fortitude, you will see why “20 Days in Mariupol” won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film and a 100 percent rating from “Rotten Tomatoes.”
For many Americans, the documentary has been below the radar and only gaining traction since the various awards. But it graphically captures the turmoil, death, and destruction, and what many deem as the genocidal invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military.
The conflict there began to recede from public attention once Hamas launched its savage, merciless attack in Israel on October 7. The two wars have much in common, not the least of which is human carnage—the countless deaths of innocent people.
Perhaps the best way to experience the “20 Days in Mariupol,” which is bravely documented by Mstyslav Chernov, a Ukrainian video journalist, is online, so you can control seeing the unrelieved atrocity in small doses. It’s challenging to endure the gruesome scenes of mutilated bodies, particularly of pregnant women and babies, to say nothing of bodies wrapped in plastic and thrown into mass graves.
All of this will provide people who have encountered similar acts of genocide, whether in the more distant past vis-a-vis the Holocaust, slavery in America, the massacre of indigenous people, or the one that rages now in Ukraine and the Middle East, with a considerable amount of empathy.
Now what is needed is a global cry for a ceasefire. Let your voice join a chorus of activists who are seeking ways and means to bring an end to the pointless and needless murder of innocent people.
For those needing a fresh perspective on these atrocities, “20 Days in Mariupol” is a bloody reminder.