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Showing posts with label Servant of the People. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Servant of the People. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Servant of the People Review Netflix Featuring Zelensky from 2015

Servant of the People now on Netflix Featuring Zelensky from 2015 Season One Review

Zelenskyy (he likes his name spelled that way) created and produced a series now on Netflix, Servant of the People. I watched season one (begun in 2015) and am impressed with his talents, foresight, bravery, and message. I highly recommend everyone watch these episodes to help see how corruption worldwide might be stopped. The subtitles are in English. The series is a Ukrainian political satire comedy television show. Zelenskyy, who stars as Vasily Petrovych, is a high school history teacher who wakes up one morning as part of a family who is less than helpful to him (mom won’t iron his shirt, he can’t get a turn in the bathroom) when the doorbell rings. Ding-dong, you are now the President of Ukraine. Attitudes change at first (hysterical to see) but not so much when his family disagrees with his political moves, such as increases in taxes.

Servant of the People Review Netflix Featuring Zelensky from 2015

However, behind the scenes, much is being done to determine where the tax money is going. Unfortunately, it is being funneled through the Prime Minister (the audience is privy to this information) to fund the exotic lives of representatives who have houses and horses in Monte Carlo. Funds are being drained from the taxpayers. The mystery is solved by the amazing Zelenskyy by the end of series one. Don’t just watch the final episode, which is excellent, but watch the entire season to understand how it was achieved. Corruption is tracked but not solved in season one. There is a series two, but I do not as yet see it on Netflix. The episodes were filmed in Kyiv before Zelenskyy became the actual leader of Ukraine, which is impressive.

In the show, to apply to run for President, Petrovych needs millions, and his high school class has a crowdfunding collection for him. Why? His rant about the government becomes viral when a student unknowingly films it. His students tell him, and he learns that almost all of them and their parents agree with his rant comments. The Prime Minister asks Petrovych how he funded his application and doesn’t believe his answer of crowdfunding. “Ha, ha, you can tell me later,” he says.

I’m sure I missed much of the humor and insights I would have had if I had understood Ukrainian. Still, the acting is so well done that what is going on is obvious. Sometimes I found myself not noticing the subtitles.

This show was interesting to me not only because it is concerning sad current events. I have had dear students from Ukraine (I am a retired teacher), and my Grandparents were from nearby Slovenia. I shared a quick write about my Grandmother’s potica previously. I love the accents and feel close to the struggle Ukrainians are enduring. My Grandmother was hidden under potatoes to keep her safe from soldiers in World War One.

Won’t we ever learn? I so wish I could erase corruption and war from the world. We have an International Court. Why isn’t it used more?

I have donated to Ukrainian relief funds, but such efforts are a drop in a war bucket. It just makes me so sad. I think Zelenskyy is setting an excellent example for the world. 

Carolyn Wilhelm

Midwest Book Reviews

More About #TheNewBookReview Blog The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines in a tab at the top of this blog's home page or go directly to the submission guidelines at http://bit.ly/ThePlacetoRecycleBookReviews or to the guideline tab at the top of the home page of this blog. Authors and publishers who do not yet have reviews or want more may use Lois W. Stern's "Authors Helping Authors" service for requesting reviews. Find her guidelines in a tab at the top of the home page, too. Carolyn Wilhelm is our IT expert, an award-winning author, a veteran educator and also contributes reviews and posts on other topics related to books. Reviews, interviews, and articles on this blog are indexed by genre, reviewers' names, and review sites so #TheNewBookReview may be used as a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. As an example, writers will find this blog's search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. #TheFrugalbookPromoter, #CarolynHowardJohnson, #TheNewBookReview, #TheFrugalEditor, #SharingwithWriters, #reading #BookReviews #GreatBkReviews #BookMarketing