Screenplay: Servant of the People (film)

Overview

The 2016 feature film continuation of Servant of the People follows newly elected President Vasyl Holoborodko, an earnest history teacher thrust into power, as he attempts to push through anti-corruption reforms in a system designed to neutralize reformers. Co-written by and starring Volodymyr Zelensky, the screenplay distills the series’ satirical energy into a single dilemma: whether a well-meaning leader should seek extraordinary authority to break an oligarchic stranglehold, or trust fragile democratic processes to deliver change.

Premise

After an initial honeymoon, Vasyl finds his legislative agenda buried under procedural tricks, media smears, and transactional horse-trading in the Verkhovna Rada. Budget deadlines loom, international creditors hesitate, and public patience thins as the same old figures prosper. Cornered by a coalition of tycoons and career politicians, he considers an audacious path: a nationwide referendum to amend the balance of power and grant the presidency temporary expanded authority to ram through reforms and dismantle immunity shields.

Escalation

Announcing the referendum ignites a political firestorm. Oligarchic channels brand Vasyl a populist would-be dictator; liberal critics warn against shortcuts; loyalists argue that nothing else will dislodge the entrenched cartel. Courts are leaned on to block the vote, parliament toys with impeachment, and every bureaucratic bottleneck becomes a weapon. The screenplay uses brisk, episodic scenes, border posts, hospitals, licensing offices, to show ordinary people ground down by petty extortion, while cutting back to the capital where lobbyists and fixers casually price out laws.

On the road and at home

Vasyl slips away from his handlers for unvarnished encounters with citizens who once embraced his viral promise of honesty. Some urge him to “go Singapore” and clean house by force; others fear that concentrating power, even in honest hands, will end in betrayal. At home, his family bears the weight of security scares and public scrutiny, testing his resolve and grounding the satire in familiar domestic rhythms. His ragtag team alternates between idealistic pep talks and farcical missteps, mirroring a country oscillating between hope and cynicism.

Climax

As referendum day approaches, the pressure peaks: a constitutional knife fight, media hysteria, and last-minute offers from the old guard to trade cosmetic reforms for abandoning the vote. The televised address that anchors the third act reframes the entire conflict. Vasyl rejects the seduction of extraordinary powers, arguing that democracy repaired by shortcuts rarely stays repaired. He asks citizens to withhold the mandate for a strongman and instead demand accountable representatives, fair rules, and fresh elections.

Resolution

By choosing restraint, he loses the immediate tactical battle but wins a moral one. The public, moved by his refusal to grasp for more authority, pivots from passive spectators to active participants. Political momentum shifts toward dissolving the gridlocked parliament and resetting the mandate through the ballot box. The film closes on the cusp of renewed democratic struggle, pointing toward a movement, soon to be named Servant of the People, rather than a single savior.

Tone and themes

The screenplay balances broad, physical comedy with sharp political repartee and earnest monologues. Its core themes pit institutional rot against civic awakening, satire against despair, and the temptation of paternalistic solutions against the harder work of procedural reform. By letting a popular president argue against accumulating power, it flips the genre’s usual populist arc, insisting that the means of change matter as much as the ends.

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