Dotted throughout Sean Penn’s new film Superpower (which he co-directed with Aaron Kaufman) are shots in which the Hollywood star turned political activist is shown sitting in his Santa Monica home, talking earnestly into camera. He is reflecting on what he has witnessed during his various trips to Ukraine since late 2021. He has a respect, verging on awe, for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wartime leadership after the Russia invasion of the country last year.
That’s not how Penn felt about Zelensky when he arrived in Kyiv in late 2021. The first half of the feature documentary (which has been provoking a frenzy at the Berlin Film Festival this weekend) is riveting and often surprising. Penn and Kaufman originally set out to make an irreverent portrait of Zelensky and to find out more about this Chaplinesque figure who has somehow been catapulted to power. Many of the Ukrainians they meet in these pre-war days express scepticism about their leader. Some think he is too close to Russia. Others argue that he doesn’t have the “balls” to stand up to Putin. The filmmakers tell the unlikely story of how the comedian and actor became President. They investigate the legacy of the Maidan revolution but also look at the extraordinary levels of corruption in Ukrainian politics and public life. At that stage, they’re yet to meet Zelensky.
