Between elves and orcs

 

"Servant of the People 2" is a 2016 Ukrainian film starring Volodomyr Zelensky as president of Ukraine.

Yes, you read that right.

Zelensky was originally an actor who starred a fictitious Ukrainian president in a political comedy series aired on Ukrainian TV. The series, called "Servant of the People" in English, spawned a sequel film, known as "Servant of the People 2". In 2019, Zelensky became the *real* president of Ukraine after winning a landslide victory over the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko. The name of Zelensky´s political party? Servant of the People...

I think it´s obvious that this wasn´t a co-incidence. Zelensky was building his brand for several years prior to actually running for president. Indeed, the party Servant of the People seems to have been formed by Kvartal 95, the production company behind the TV series of the same name! 

Swedish TV recently showed "Servant of the People 2", obviously because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. To me as a random viewer, the film wasn´t that interesting. To a Ukrainian, I suppose it meant much more, since the lead actor was elected president three years later. Maybe it´s of interest to students of contemporary Ukrainian politics? 

The cultural references are incomprehensible to non-Ukrainians. Who is the mysterious Cossack leader who says he is going to defeat the Khazar army? Why does the film contain both references to classical culture (the twelve labors of Heracles) and modern pop culture (Star Wars and LOTR)? And why the obsession with Capri and Italy? OK, I checked that one. It´s also a bit ironic that Zaporizhzhia, depicted as a very heroic town resisting the Russian onslaught in recent media reports, is depicted as a gangster-infested corrupted "butthole" in this film! And unless I´m mistaken, most of the characters in "Servant of the People 2" actually speak Russian.

I was also struck by the old fashioned humor. Cross-dressing is still considered great fun east of the ex-Iron Curtain, it seems, and at one point, the "president" and his foremost associate dress in drag at a decadent party at a hotel in Zaporizhzhia. The Ukrainian drag queen Verka Serduchka actually stars in the film (yes, I recognized him, but then, that´s not difficult). Alcohol and girls dressed in folk costumes are apparently comic, too. So is making fun of German last names...

Let´s be brutally honest here: without the war, "Servant of the People 2" would be considered "problematic" west of the ex-Iron Curtain! 

The plot, such as it is, circles around "president Goloborodko´s" attempts to get the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) to vote for a reform package needed to obtain loans from the IMF. The reforms are opposed by three powerful oligarchs, who control most of the parliamentary delegates. To neutralize the oligarchs, Goloborodko teams up with an imprisoned ex-oligarch and bon vivant, Chuiko, after first promising him amnesty. After the previously mentioned drag acts, Goloborodko secures the parliament´s support, only to find out that the IMF delegation is equally corrupted. The film actually ends with Zelensky´s character refusing to sign the IMF deal, instead making an impassioned speech about Ukrainians not being "beggars or guestworkers", and Ukraine not being a "border region between elves and orcs". He then tells the IMF to go to hell! Interestingly, he doesn´t sound ethno-nationalist, rather calling for unity between all citizens of Ukraine (many of whom are ethnic Russians or Russian-speakers). In real life, Zelensky is a Russian-speaking Jew.

In the 2019 elections, Zelensky put himself forward as an anti-corruption candidate, something clearly foreshadowed in "Servant of the People 2" with "Goloborodko´s" constant rants (often filled with expletives) against oligarchs and their political patsies. In reality, Zelensky is a patsy himself, but for another oligarchic faction. This may not be politic to point out due to the war, but it´s a fact nevertheless. It may be even more impolite to state that this particular faction is heavily Jewish...

I support Ukraine against Russia, but my cynical side tells me that Zelensky might not have been re-elected had the war not interfered. Indeed, East Europeans tend to be pretty ungrateful to their independence leaders and democracy activists. It will be interesting to see how long the Ukrainians remain loyal to the Servant of the People...