It's not funny or too coherent; and it feels like being suddenly mentioned in the New York Times a while back, before the Orange Revolution:
Nobody In Ukraine Notices Absence Of Government
September 28, 2005 | Issue 41•39
KIEV, UKRAINE—The firing of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the dismissal of most of the federal government continued to go unremarked by Ukraine's 14 million citizens Monday. "Roads are crumbling, the Russian Mafia sets food prices, our currency grows more worthless by the hour, and still the government does nothing," said Brzyny Ilandrovitch, editor of the U.F. Monitor. "Every year, it's the same thing with this group of fat crooks." Upon hearing of the government overthrow, Ilandrovitch said he was reminded of 1991's democratic elections, when the lawless chaos that followed the country's independence from the Soviet Union left many doubting that a central government had been democratically elected.
What's great about the Onion article is that despite getting the population wrong and contriving a made-up completely non-Ukrainian name of Brzyny Ilandrovitch, this article could have been lifted from the New York Times, Financial Times, or any other media. . .Makes me question the coverage we get since Yulia was sacked.
ReplyDelete10.02.05 - 11:36 pm
Hi Neeka,
ReplyDeleteI went to see the film "Everything is Illuminated" today. Definitely it's something that will make you laugh in parts, and it's moving at times. But you'll notice right away it's not actually filmed in Ukraine (the roads are all so clean and well paved--it's actually the Czech Republic). Also, except for some peasant-esque extras, everyone speaks Russian, it's not really clear how that could be, since this is all supposed to be taking place near Lutsk. Maybe they couldn't find enough Ukrainian speaking actors and thought no one would notice? Also they change the book's ending to one that's pretty much pure fantasy.
Well, they get a B for effort, and also for putting Hutz in there, he's great. I found this interview with him (link above). He sums things up well:
"... to be perfectly honest, this film is more of a fantasy on a Ukrainian theme, than an authentic portrayal of Eastern Europe. If I was to do things that are, from beginning to the end, portrayed really the way it is without trying to translate it, it might not have come through. Eastern Europe is a lot darker place than people think, especially than Americans think. It's really a lot less about red pants, accordion, and vodka shots."
Hutz also gets a couple of good songs on the soundtrack. So has the ekranki version of this already shown up in Kyiv, I wonder?
10.03.05 - 4:32 am