2025 Sundance Film Festival Movie Review: 2000 Meters to Andriivka

Mstyslav Chrenov’s 2000 Meters to Andriivka, the follow-up to his 2022 Oscar-winning 20 Days in Mariopul, is another harrowing look at the war in Ukraine. Chrenov puts us on the frontlines of a brigade of Ukrainian soldiers trying to cross a 2000-meter forest to claim a Russian-occupied village.

The opening fifteen minutes of 2000 Meters to Andriivka is like the opening Normandy scene from Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan except real. Chrenov straps cameras onto the heads of Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front lines of the war against Russia and puts them right into action. Bullets wiz by the soldier’s heads, bombs go off in a nearby bunker. As the troops try and get to safety, soldiers are injured by gunfire, some even losing their lives. It’s a heart-pounding, harrowing start to the film and sets the stage for everything we are about to see. 

Chernov follows the group of soldiers as they trek through a 2000-meter forest to Andriivka, a Russian-occupied city they are trying to take back. On each side of the forest are minefields, making the forest the only way to get to Andriivka. While the destination is only 2000 meters, which is just over a mile for my American readers, the soldiers are planning a three-month journey to get there due to the enemy attacks that await them.

Throughout the journey, the soldiers are being bombarded by Russian soldiers, and like the opening scene, we witness every bullet, every injury, and any casualties that may take place. In between the fighting, Chrenov interviews members of the infantry trying to get to Andriivka. These moments allow us to take a breath from the warfare and learn more about the people who are fighting and why they are fighting. The moments start nice and sweet but after every interview, Chernov gives us a voiceover about their futures following this journey and none of them live longer than six months.

2000 Meters to Andriivka isn’t a movie with a hopeful message. You don’t leave this movie with the hope that Ukraine’s fight against Russia will come to an end soon or the tides will be turning for them. This is a movie that shows the horrors that the people of Ukraine are going through, how hard they are fighting, and how hopeless it all is. 2000 Meters to Andriivka is an impeccably made and important film, though a heart-wrenching one that might be hard for some to stomach.

2000 Meters from Andriivka premiered in the World Documentary Category at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

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