Shuttering the Doubts: How I Found My Voice Behind the Lens

Mariupol, a strategic point in Ukraine
20 days of records from AP reporters

A scene from the film ’20 Days in Mariupol’. A child cries in Mariupol, a strategic location in southeast Ukraine. Provided by Studio DHL People whose bodies are covered in blood are taken to the hospital’s emergency room. One of their legs was cut off by some. Another person was burned and his face melted. A child who was hit by an artillery shell while playing football with his friends in the neighborhood, a newborn who could not breathe after being crushed by a building that had collapsed after being hit by a missile … .

Parents shout as they hold their children who died in front of them. The doctor, exhausted from cleaning the body, looks at the camera and says: “Keep filming. “Show the eyes of this child to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the crying doctors.”

The film ’20 Days in Mariupol’, which will be released in Korea on the 6th, is a documentary about Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This is a work that includes a wide range of images that were not reported in the news among the records filmed by Associated Press reporters over 20 days in Mariupol, a strategic point in southeastern Ukraine in February 2022.

The film begins with the narration, “Wars begin with silence, not explosions.” The camera shows the dry city of Mariupol, where war is imminent. An explosion occurs outside and people panic. One woman grabs a reporter and asks, “Where should we run away?” The camera angle which shakes wildly and the panting sounds of the reporters convey the atmosphere of the rapidly changing scene.

A scene from the film ’20 Days in Mariupol’. A woman receives treatment for injuries suffered during a bombing in Mariupol, a strategic location in south-east Ukraine. Provided by Studio DHL Mariupol is gradually falling into ruins. Soldiers come and go in the streets, and the sound of fighter jets flying here and there can be heard. Hospitals are full of injured or dead children. People cry, “Didn’t Russia say it doesn’t attack civilians?” As the saying goes, “War shows the inside of a human being like an X-ray,” people steal other people’s shops to survive.

Reporters are constantly concerned about the ethics of reporting. During the early stages of the war, people refused to pay attention to the story, saying, “Why are you taking pictures of me?” and “This is a joke.” There was also a Ukrainian soldier who disapproved, saying he couldn’t help but only carry a camera. However, as time goes by, people welcome cameras. This is because the Internet has been cut off in Mariupol, which has been blocked since the 8th day, making it impossible to report the tragedy. This is why the reporters who said, “I’m worried about what to do between helping people and taking pictures with the camera” didn’t drop the camera until the end.

The greatest virtue of the film is that it focuses on the ‘victims’. There was almost no military tug-of-war, such as the location of the Russian bombing or the Ukrainian military counterattack. Rather, it is impressive that it looks at the brutality of war by capturing ordinary people who were bombed, crying, suffering, and left in fear. More than two years have passed since the war started, and North Korean troops have recently joined the war, so the film offers a lot of food for thought.

It is said that the reporters were able to film by hiding a storage device containing the photos and videos which they covered with tampons and sanitary pads to prevent the Russian military from going after them. The reporters won the Pulitzer Prize in public reporting, America’s most prestigious reporting award, last year in recognition of their contribution to reporting the horrors of war. The film won 33 awards at film festivals around the world, including Best Documentary at the American Academy Awards. In their Academy Award acceptance speech, the reporter said, “If I could trade this trophy for a story where Russia didn’t invade or invade Ukraine, I would.”

Correspondent Hojae Lee hoho@donga.com