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Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Rules with selfie video messages
Photo: The Presidential Office / rbb / ARD
A majority of military experts, including Vladimir Putin, have predicted a collapse in Ukraine in the first days of the Russian invasion.
Presumably, this prognosis would also have come true if Volodymyr Zelenskyy had taken advantage of the "ride-sharing opportunity" offered by the USA and made off.
The fact that the president is still in Kyiv does not pose a military challenge, but a moral one. For his enemies, but also for Western observers.
Who is the man that everyone seems to have gotten wrong?
"A President at War" is what Claudia Nagel and Dirk Schneider call their current documentary approach, which was briefly promoted to the Arte and the first program.
On the basis of archive images, statements by observers and two interviews - conducted before and during the war - a portrait was created that shows the race against time.
One problem is that people are currently checking every morning to see whether Zelenskyj even survived the night.
Another problem is that he himself uses social media in a way that has never been seen before on this level and with this seriousness.
He is, in real time, "citizen, father, husband" and president of an existentially threatened state.
Without classifying added value
Scenes like the one in which Selenskyj is told that Russian troops shelled the Babyn Yar memorial ("That's Russia. Congratulations!") are only a few days old - and without any added value, they are already part of this documentary, which has been knitted with hot needles.
The same applies to his performances in front of European audiences.
Everything still fresh.
What experts have to say about him corresponds to the assessment of the average newspaper reader.
Your wonder is the wonder of the world.
The film also recalls biographical aspects.
Father a physics professor, mother an engineer, grandfather in the Soviet army, the eradication of the Holocaust in family history, studying law, discovering his comedic talent, marrying a school friend, founding the joint TV production company.
Critical things are not left out either, such as his money in offshore accounts or the relationship with the powerful oligarch Ihor Kolomojskyj, on whose broadcaster Zelenskyj was so successful with his satire »Servant of the People« that he and his party of the same name were elected president became.
So far, so well known.
With the onset of the aggression, Zelenskyy "grew into his new role as war president."
As if the situation wasn't terrible enough, originally silent images are reinforced by a martial soundtrack.
Then we hear the hissing of the rocket launchers, the explosion of the government building in Kharkiv, the wailing of the air raid sirens.
Conversely, strings revel when it comes to the hero's family history or the camera drone conjures up idyllic landscapes of a peaceful Ukraine.
That's not propaganda, but suggestive.
Here, what is already painfully evident is emotionalized.
Why?
Maybe because there is nothing more to say at the moment.
With Volodymyr Zelenskyj, a figure has entered the world stage who has already, almost single-handedly, exposed the Western narrative of the "post-heroic age" as all too easy.
Where push comes to shove, you don't have to ask yourself what you would do if push came to shove.
Things get tough in Ukraine.
Selenskyj proves himself with the means he understands - and they are medial.
The documentary is always worth seeing if it doesn't want to be icon painting.
In moments, for example, when Selenskyj is not talking and nervous twitches on his face reflect his inner turmoil.
When he squats next to Donald Trump like the bloody beginner he was, and yet withstood his attempts at blackmail.
When he signs the official application for Ukraine's admission to the EU, he does so in front of sandbags in the background.
"Zelenskyj - A President at War",
Tuesday, 8:15 p.m., Arte and 10:15 p.m., Das Erste.
The film is also available in both media libraries.
