Polish “Servant of the nation”. Many stars competed with Hycnar for this role, we check how he fared [RECENZJA]

– We were not guided by physical similarity, more by who fits the role. To find an actor for the character originally played by Volodymyr Zelensky, we did a huge casting, over 150 actors took part in it. Stars and little-known actors – says Okił Khamidov, who had an unbelievable success with “The World According to the Kiepskis”, and now, together with Maciej Baliński, took up directing the Polish version of the Ukrainian production. Khamidov adds:

I personally dealt with the casting and when choosing I suggested the acting skills of the candidates, how well someone is able to empathize with this role. Hycnar did it best of all, and that’s why he was chosen. It was a shock to the station. Why are we taking a lesser known actor? Apparently some of the actors – let’s say celebrities – who dropped out resented that they didn’t get the part. They thought casting was a formality for them. But this is not a formality and I can assure you that Hycnar won fairly.

Servant of the nation Aleksandra Mecwaldowska

Marcin Hycnar is not the second Volodymyr Zelensky

You can see that Hycnar is looking for his way to be a hero. At times he is extremely charming, at times touching, although there are (short and few) moments when he turns a bit too much towards unleavenedness and lacks charisma. In the first four episodes, his speech, which changed the life of Ignacy Konieczny, a history teacher, makes a huge impression. In the midst of an outburst in a schoolroom, he said what he thought of the rulers – and surely many viewers would then think that they completely agreed with him. The creators emphasize that this is not a production about Polish politics, but a comedy series. It is known that Konieczny’s slogans are populist, but this is not meant to be a direct reference to our political scene, rather something to laugh at, but sometimes also to reflect on.

We’ve always told ourselves that while both candidates are f***ers, this one is a bit less f***ed than the other c***! And then when such a f***ing, f***ing person comes to power, he immediately steals as much as he can. And he tells us to fuck off with a collar around the neck and up to 90!

These words recorded by a student go viral and Konieczny becomes president. Already in the first scenes, such as the selection of a watch, the creators show how easily power can corrupt.

Sometimes you get the impression that we are watching a repeat of the visit of a foreign delegation in the cult series “Alternatywy 4”, at some point we will associate a much more serious (and great!) “Team” by Agnieszka Holland, in which the creators faced a similar pattern: they tried to show what Polish politics would look like if an unknown economist with ideals became prime minister. I am very curious how Hycnar will cope when Konieczny comes out of the first shock after winning and starts to be less naive and more independent. And how will his relations with his parents develop, definitely more exposed to soda water than he is.

Today’s president of Ukraine, at the head of a nation fighting Russia’s aggression, gained immense popularity thanks to his role in “Servant of the People” in 2015 – and in 2019 he was indeed elected leader. It is worth remembering, however, that the Ukrainians were extremely lucky to have found a man like Zelensky, because the “savior of the nation”, “a man from outside the system” may also be another populist who, playing on emotions, wants to reach for power. You can see excerpts from his speech in the video below:

“Servant of the nation” – good dialogues, absurdities of power

Although the series “Servant of the nation” was created under a Ukrainian license and the script is transferred almost 1: 1, the dialoguers did a good job. Conversations between the taxi driver and the caretaker of the house, between Konieczny’s parents (who doesn’t laugh at a joke about a vegetable salad from one of the first episodes?) or the words of the students addressed to the historian sound authentic and natural. And where exaggeration is necessary – as in moments of absurd political situations, showing the hypocrisy and idiocy of the authorities – the words are emphasized as they should. If I had to stick to it, pathetic moments don’t always have to be emphasized with pathetic music to have an impact on the viewer.

The actors deserve a lot of credit for all this – the cast includes many great ones, including: Krzysztof Dracz, Danuta Stenka, Dorota Kolak, S³awomir Orzechowski, Magdalena Popławska, Hanna Konarowska-Nowińska, Wojciech Wysocki, Mirosław Zbrojewicz and Krzysztof Stelmaszyk. The season consists of 24 episodes, and it is already known that the next one will be made.

If you decide to watch the first two episodes of “Servant of the nation” on March 4 at 20:00 (the whole thing is already available in Polsat Box Go), also pay attention to the work of the operators in the tenement house where the main character lives, you will also enjoy flavors in the style of the appearance Tomasz Karolak, whose presence in every Polish romantic comedy has already become a meme, and here the creators – at least that’s how I perceived it – wink at the viewer for this reason.