Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 2016
Servant of the People 2
Buy Servant of the People 2 now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Servant of the People 2' (Ukrainian: 2, 'Sluha narodu 2', Russian: 2, 'Sluga naroda 2') is a 2016 Ukrainian political comedy film based on Volodymyr Zelenskyy's television series 'Servant of the People', produced and distributed by Kvartal 95 Studio, which also produced the show. The film was directed by Aleksey Kiryushchenko and stars Zelenskyy, who also served as a producer of the film, alongside Anastasia Chepelyuk and returning cast members Evgeniy Koshevoy and Stanislav Boklan. Released between the first and second seasons of 'Servant of the People', the film follows the efforts of President Vasily Goloborodko (Zelenskyy) to overcome a group of adversarial oligarchs and pass political reforms in order to make Ukraine eligible for IMF financial aid.
Zelenskyy's role in both the TV series and the film is credited with helping him win the vote in the 2019 Ukrainian election.
Plot
The film centers on Vasily Petrovich Goloborodko (played by Volodymyr Zelenskyy), a high school teacher whose rant about corruption in Ukraine went viral and catapulted him into the position of President of Ukraine during the first season of the TV show. Taking place after the events of the first season, the movie follows Goloborodko's attempt to combat inflation in his country, in part by obtaining financial aid for Ukraine from the IMF. The aid comes with the condition that certain reforms must be made, but Goloborodko's efforts to enact the reforms are stymied by a group of oligarchs who use their influence on the Verkhovna Rada to interfere with his plans. Goloborodko teams up with former Prime Minister Yuri Ivanovich Chuiko, whom the president had previously helped jail, to combat the oligarchs.
Production
'Servant of the People 2' was developed by the film studio Kvartal 95.
Filming began August 13, 2016 and was expected to last two and a half months, with 75 days slated for filming. Filming took place in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Odesa and Lviv.
The first day of filming took place at the Central Railway Station in Kyiv. A platform and passenger train were leased for the set. Ukrainian journalists were present at the event, and were invited not only to interview the cast and crew, but also to participate in the filming, playing themselves as the Ukrainian media who were there to interview Zelenskyy's character President Goloborodko.
Both filming of the movie and filming of the show's second season were set to occur in the same period of time from between October 3 to 6 in Lviv. While at the announcement of the filming location there had been some threats of protest by activists who had previously accused the show of being Ukrainophobic due to the show's use of the Russian language, as well as both the film studio's and Zelenskyy's involvement in a parody of the Ukrainian government, ultimately there was no interference with the production.
Release
'Servant of the People 2' had its premiere in Kyiv on December 19, 2016, and then released widely in Ukraine on December 23, 2016. The film was released in Belarus on April 27, 2017, and was later screened at the Montreal World Film Festival on August 25, 2017.
The television premiere of the film in Ukraine was scheduled to coincide with the Independence Day of Ukraine, on August 24, 2017.
Box Office
In Ukraine, 'Servant of the People 2' grossed 11.3 million ($420,000 USD) on its opening weekend, and has grossed 23.7 million ($0.88 million USD) overall by the end of 2017.Accolades
References
Buy Servant of the People 2 now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 2016