Must-see: Servant of the People, the series that launched Volodymyr Zelensky

It is an extraordinary, vertiginous destiny.

Volodymyr Zelensky, 44, president of Ukraine since May 20, 2019, has become since February 24, the date of the start of the war in his country, one of the most followed men on the planet.

Nearly 16.5 million followers on Instagram whom he showers with daily posts, encouraging them to support the morale of their troops and to glorify the resistance against the Russian invader.

Since November, Arte has been broadcasting the first season of the

(23 episodes of 25 minutes), written, directed and performed by the Ukrainian president when he was an actor and producer, via his company Studio Kvartal-95.

In March, the audience takes off to reach more than 4.1 million views in a few weeks.

And it's not over.

On April 8 at 10:30 p.m., the first four episodes of season 1 will be broadcast on Arte.

In May, and until the end of 2022, the entire series will be available on arte.tv, with the arrival of seasons 2 and 3. The opportunity to recap the 5 good reasons to watch this satirical-political UFO.

To discover

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1-Discover life in kyiv, “before”

Let's start by setting the context.

In 2014, the tragic events of Maidan deposed President Yanukovych (in February) and led to the election of Petro Poroshenko (in May).

In the meantime, there will have been the Crimean crisis (attached to Russia in March) and the pro-Russian insurrection in the Donbass (from February).

A year later, Volodymyr Zelensky's series arrived on the screens of the Ukrainian channel 1+1 - second in terms of audiences -, which has been broadcasting the comedian-producer's shows for a few years.

First scene: Volodymyr on the throne, in the toilets of his parents' bathroom where he lives, like his 18-year-old niece.

History teacher, he does not roll on gold and his life is a bit crazy.

Later, the antihero is filmed by a student at his high school as he describes,

in a fit of rage, what he would do to solve all the country's problems if he were president.

Posted on social networks, the video goes viral and the professor, president in spite of himself thanks to a campaign of

.

The satires are linked, each detail is revealing.

The modest interior of the parents of Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko - his character in the series -, the repair of the roads which swallows up millions without plugging the holes, the system of corruption, the temptations, the staging of power - the scene of the bank !

-, the oligarchs who comment in

without us noticing their faces, the actions of the puppet that escapes them (season 1).

Shock of reality.

2-Meet Volodymyr Zelensky and his band from Studio Kvartal 95

It is undoubtedly a marker of corrupt countries: you do not change a winning team and on whom you can count with your eyes closed.

Since 2005, with his band of friends from Kvartal-95, Zelensky has produced the country's most watched show,

(

, in Ukrainian), a social and political satire, of which he is the key man.

It sings out loud what the Ukrainians think quietly.

In

, we find this troupe of comedians.

Yeven Kochovy plays a blundering Minister of Foreign Affairs and Elena Kravets, the divorced wife of President Holoborodko.

In 2019, after the investiture – in real life – of Zelensky, most joined the central administration of the country – as in the series.

3-Measuring the daily rivalry with Putin and Russia

When Holoborodko first arrives at the Ukrainian National Assembly, the deputies exchange inaudible and agitated manner.

Zelensky announces into the microphone “Putin has been deposed” and silence is instantaneous;

everyone freezes in disbelief.

This running gag will return two more times in the first season, each time arousing historical vertigo for the viewer... The rivalry with Russia is significant - in 2019, the Russian channel TNT broadcast the first three episodes of the series, before to remove them.

4-Know the series that launched Volodymyr Zelensky in politics

Ukrainians do nothing like the others.

In 2018, the young “Decisive Change Party” changed its name to the “Servant of the People” party (“Slouha Narodou”, abbreviated as “SN”).

A few months later, Ivan Bakanov, boss of Kvartal 95, directs it.

When Zelensky comes to power, Bakanov is appointed head of internal security.

After years of producing popular comedy shows, buoyed by the success of the series – more than twenty million viewers in Ukraine -, Zelensky has become a kind of Coluche crossbred with the star of

(for which he won the Ukrainian edition in 2006).

A showman in costume, pro of the camera and communication.

A modern weapon in itself, which the leader of the invasion resistance uses today like no one before.

Full screen

When fiction meets reality: on the left, Volodymyr Zelensky on his bike in the credits of the series (he sings the song).

On the right, the president in combat gear at his office, photo published on March 29, 2022 on his Instagram account @zelenskiy_official.

Art / Photo Press.

Instagram account @zelenskiy_official

5-Falling into the inverted metaverse, from warlord to fictional president

The series, underpinned by a political statement, has become reality.

Volodymyr Zelensky went from virtual to the presidential palace in May 2019, at age 41.

He announced his surprise candidacy the evening of the previous December 31, on the 1+1 channel.

He did not hold a political meeting, except, three days before the second round, a circus-style rally against his opponent, in the Olympic stadium in kyiv (70,000 people).

A challenge announced by a carefully staged video.

This provocateur at heart - evidenced by his sense of negotiation and repartee - does not back down from anything.

The first three episodes of season 3 of

had already been broadcast a few days before the first round.

Its success, its reformist discourse and the charisma of its main actor, a politically intrigued television star, could have ended there.

Zelensky had already made a fortune with his activity as a producer.

The support of Iho Kolomoisky, owner of the channel 1+1, was reproached to him.

His presence on the list of heads of state involved in the Pandora Papers affair, too.

The war and his daily speeches propelled him into a leader of the free world, in military uniform.

After Reagan spent westerns in the White House (1980), Jimmy Morales television sets at the head of Guatemala (2015), without forgetting the televised fall of Ceausescu in Romania (1989), the

Volodymyr Zelensky's burst onto the international scene illustrates how screens – televisions and smartphones alike – have become the agora of the 21st century.

Or how, with him, humor and naive hope gave birth to a new model of head of state revealed by the war.