Narius Kairys, Nerijus Milerius (PDF)
https://doi.org/10.53631/MIS/2024.16.5
Modern warfare is increasingly characterised as a conflict over truth, where the side that effectively constructs and disseminates its version of reality holds a strategic advantage. This paper argues that the perceived objectivity of documentary footage does not inherently equate to truth; rather, it is the subjective perspective of the filmmaker that often provides deeper insights. We propose that the more personal and subjective a documentary film is, the closer it may come to capturing a nuanced truth. To explore this idea, we employ Michel de Certeau’s concepts of tactics and strategies to examine the interplay between subjective experience and the notion of truth in war documentaries. Our analysis focuses on three films documenting the siege of Mariupol during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022: Mantas Kvedaravičius and Hanna Bilobrova’s Mariupolis 2 (2022), Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol (2023), and Robin Barnwell’s Mariupol: The People’s Story (2023). Despite their differing methodologies — ethnographic observation in Kvedaravičius’ film, real-time reporting in Chernov’s work, and the use of archival and found footage in Barnwell’s documentary — all three films offer distinct and compelling testimonies that contribute to the broader landscape of war-related media imagery.
Keywords: Mantas Kvedaravičius, Mstyslav Chernov, documentary film, Mariupol