A few months ago, when I first saw 2000 Meters to Andriivka, I told a colleague of mine here at CinemaBlend that it was a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination and definitely had a chance to take home the gold statuette. Then the nominations morning came. Immediately, awards-watchers and cinephiles were lamenting the snubs of Hamnet actor Paul Mescal getting overlooked, and Wicked: For Good, missing out completely. I was more stunned that 2000 Meters to Andriivka didn’t earn a nomination.
It’s The Most Intense Documentary Of 2025
I watched a lot of documentaries in 2025, including four of the five that are nominated for an Oscar at the 98th Academy Awards (I’m still hoping to catch Cutting Through Rocks soon). My favorite is The Alabama Solution, but the most intense is without question 2000 Meters to Andriivka. The film tells the incredible and tragic assault on a Russian-occupied town in Ukraine by a platoon of the 3rd Assault Brigade in the Ukrainian Army.
I’ve seen plenty of war documentaries, but this one is particularly heartbreaking and hard to watch. The footage is shot mostly by the director Mstyslav Chernov, who won an Oscar in 2024 for his incredible 20 Days in Mariupol, also about the Russia-Ukraine war. 2000 Meters to Andriivka is even more gripping and terrifying. It is astounding that it wasn’t even nominated.
The Other Documentaries Are Also Excellent
Here’s where talking about Oscar snubs always gets a little tricky. For example, it sucks that Paul Mescal was snubbed for Hamnet in the Best Supporting Actor Category, but his “spot” was filled by Delroy Lindo in Sinners, which is also an incredible performance. Chase Infiniti is often cited as a snub, and she’s amazing in One Battle After Another, but I absolutely love Kate Hudson in Song Sung Blue (aside from all the "Sweet Caroline"). So which of the five documentaries would I take out? That’s tough.
Come See Me in the Good Light is heartbreaking and life-affirming while grappling with death. The Perfect Neighbor is groundbreaking, and true crime documentaries had a good year in 2025. The Alabama Solution is, as I said, my favorite documentary of the year. While I haven’t seen Cutting Through Rocks yet, it sounds intriguing. So in the end, I think I’d cut Mr Nobody Against Putin in favor of 2000 Meters to Andriivka.
They are different docs approaching the same geopolitical crisis, but the latter is just so much more visceral. Mr Nobody Against Putin is a good film and tells an absolutely fascinating story, but Mstyslav Chernov literally dodged bullets as he filmed the platoon fight for a tiny piece of land in the war. It’s a futile battle, yet the soldiers fight on. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I watched it. The Academy missed here.
We’ll know in a month or so which of the five comes out on top at the 98th Oscars. I’d be shocked if Mr Nobody Against Putin wins, but I would not have been at all surprised if 2000 Meters to Andriivka did, had it only been nominated, and that pretty much says it all.
