The Zelensky Story: as 'astonishing as it is inspirational'

If it hadn't actually happened, you'd never believe it was possible, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian, of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's rise from popular comic film and TV actor to president of Ukraine. Favourite fact? One of his last acting jobs was voicing the part of Paddington in the Ukrainian versions of the films. 

What makes his story even more incredible, is that, for four years, Zelenskyy starred in a political satire, "Servant of the People", about an ordinary school teacher who suddenly becomes, wait for it, president of Ukraine. 

In 2019, he stopped playing the role of president and started doing the actual job, using, said Dan Einav in the FT, his sitcom scriptwriters "to help shape his real-life campaign and agenda". Within three years, he and his country were fighting a war against Russia.

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Perfect fodder then for this BBC Two documentary, "The Zelensky Story", which is as "astonishing as it is inspirational", said Sean O'Grady in The Independent. A "meticulous, sensitive, insightful" production, it "deserves to win the very highest of accolades the industry has to offer".

Told in three hour-long parts and directed by Michael Waldman, Zelenskyy's interviews are "genuinely revealing" and the first lady of Ukraine, his wife Olena's are "especially frank". We learn for example that she only discovered her husband was running for the presidency when he announced his intentions on one of his TV shows. She admits, too, to harbouring "a faint hope that he wouldn't win". One gets the distinct feeling she would much rather her "genial" husband was still getting his kicks from primetime TV.

Other interviews include those with friends and colleagues, including one Boris Johnson. But one of the most "surreal" moments, said Einav, are archival clips that show the future Ukrainian president on "Dancing with the Stars" set alongside footage of what Vladimir Putin was up to at the same time. They go some way to explaining Zelenskyy's "telegenic appeal that has driven his political rise".

The difference between the two men is "fascinating to watch", said Mangan. The "blank-eyed soullessness" of the Russian president and the "ineffable sense of wrongness", versus the "warmth, charm and humanity" of his Ukrainian counterpart, "brimful of soul". 

But although it "avoids becoming a hagiography" by highlighting the "populist tactics deployed during his candidacy", or the "accusations of the naivety" of his early years in office, it does seem "wary of pushing him", said Einav in the FT. Zelenskyy's comments about the West "failing to recognise Putin's irredentist intentions pack some punch, but lack detail". The big questions about how the war might end "largely go unasked".

And as for what lies in store for the president, post-office? We learn that before this change in direction, his biggest dream was to win an Oscar. "Stranger things have happened". 

Whether Zelenskyy's great advantage as a leader in possession of "passion paired with performance skills" is "enough to drive back the Russian army", said Mangan, "we will have to wait and see".