SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE
From playing the part to living it: a new documentary shows how Volodymyr Zelensky went from comedy star to wartime leader
‘Servant of the People was the dream of all good Ukranians – an ordinary person replaces our corrupt bureaucrats’
It’s perhaps unheard of for a documentary profiling a globally famous politician to commence with footage of them on the lavatory. But the opening of the BBC’s three-part documentary series on Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky does exactly that, featuring excerpts from his 2015 comedy series Servant of the People.
It’s a reminder of Zelensky’s incredible metamorphosis, from comedy actor to wartime leader. “Before we started making the documentary, I knew the bare bones – that a comedian who played the President of Ukraine had become the President of Ukraine,” says British director Michael Waldman, who won a Bafta for his behind-the-scenes series The House about the Royal Opera House. “But I had no idea of the richness and complexity of his story.
“He is the most significant figure on our planet at the moment, at the epicentre of a huge geopolitical and military storm affecting all the world. But if Ukraine was a small and obscure country that was not at war, his would still be an amazing story.”
The Zelensky Story illuminates how a TV entertainer – who won his nation’s version of Strictly Come Dancing, was the voice of Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian versions of the Paddington films and whose character inadvertently became President of Ukraine in the comedy Servant of the People – not only became President, but an inspirational leader against Vladimir Putin’s invading Russian forces.
It could scarcely be timelier. The recent cross-border attack in Kursk is the largest incursion on Russian territory by Ukrainian forces since the war began in February 2022. Some observers are describing it as Zelensky’s riskiest decision yet. For Waldman, getting access to Zelensky was “incredibly complicated”. He forged a relationship with Zelensky’s ‘gatekeeper’ Deputy Head of Office, Olena Kovalska, but it was a while before an interview with the President was permitted.
“We were allowed 25 minutes and he gave us 50,” says Waldman happily. “I was worried that he would speak Ukrainian and say nothing other than ‘Give me more missiles, Western leaders’, as if we were a megaphone for him. But in fact, he spoke English and was very relaxed, personal, funny and apparently genuine.”
Along with interviews with Zelensky and his wife Olena, the documentary features ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, former UK defence secretary Ben Wallace and Ukrainian film producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who first met Zelensky more than 20 years ago. The Oscar-nominated producer was a judge on the hugely popular talent show KVN when Zelensky made his first appearance. “He made a very strong impression on everyone who met him,” recalls Rodnyansky. “He was a natural born leader, even among the very talented people around him. He had a charisma and was very easy to like. He loved to be liked… He believed in his own talent and was very successful.”
With Zelensky evolving into a high-profile satirist, Servant of the People captured the
national mood so perfectly that in 2018 a political party named after the television series was registered. Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko, the character he played, made it his mission to weed out corruption by the government oligarchy.
“Servant of the People was the centuries-old dream of all good Ukrainians – an ordinary person in power replaces our usual corrupt bureaucrats,” says Rodnyansky. “It made Zelensky so successful and loved, I never expected him to sacrifice all that comfort.
“But being president [he was elected in 2019] before the war was hard for him. I believe he over-estimated his abilities and those of his team. He made promises which turned out to be unrealistic, pledging reforms he never delivered. He was losing popularity. No one doubted his honesty and good intentions but people were questioning his competence.”
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was the making of Zelensky. “It changed him completely,” says Rodnyanksy, who even now speaks with the President every few months. “He became more mature and serious, angrier, more resilient. It gave him new purpose.
“What surprised me was his ability to lead in a time of war, his courage and determination. I never expected him to inspire millions to work together, believing in the future. He risked his life, staying with his country, doing everything humanly possible to help Ukraine.”
Waldman says he was “expecting someone more conventionally statesmanlike” when he arrived in Ukraine to film. “Of course he’s a politician and knows what he’s doing. But he comes across well. I felt an authenticity to him.
“I would be naive if I thought he doesn’t calculate his effect on people, whether in interviews or addressing parliaments or talking to his nation; but there is a sincerity to it. He believes what he’s saying. I can’t believe that when he was still working in television, he didn’t have an ego… But watching him with the people around him, he gave no sense of arrogance or patronising distance. He was completely charming.”
Waldman was also able to interview First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska who was at school and university with her husband, with whom she has two children. “The President told me I was spending more time with her than he was,” grins Waldman. “She was unsmiling at first and it was all quite frosty. Then I said something borderline cheeky that amused her. She’s a sophisticated woman, used to sycophants. It worked.
“She’s very sharp, clever, funny, modest. It was not her ambition to be First Lady – she told me she hoped he would lose the election – but there’s a steeliness. You wouldn’t want to cross her. She only discovered her husband was running for the presidency when he announced it on television. She told me of the anger she felt. But their relationship survived it.”
In the documentary there is also a great sadness to her, as if she wishes their life had taken another path. “Without question,” agrees Waldman. “She feels the weight of what is happening differently to him. They are both very tired.”
Patently, Zelensky made a profound impression on the programme makers. So is the documentary warts and all? “Up to a point,” replies Waldman. “There are voices of criticism – diplomats who thought him a few steps behind events, the fact that he hasn’t gripped corruption as strongly as some hoped, and questions about some of what he’s doing. I’m aware there are further criticisms out there.
“In peacetime, Zelensky’s five-year term as President would have expired three months ago. As it is he will remain in office until the war ends, when he says he will step down. But what then? He is only 46 now.
“He can’t just go back and be a comedian on the telly,” says Waldman. “I’d love to do the follow-up documentary about what happens to him after the war. I can’t believe it won’t be fascinating.” KATE BATTERSBY