uKrainians and Russians are very little in agreement these days, but a Russian TV the series created an unlikely connection. In both countries, the public loves it and the bureaucrats want to ban it. “Slovo Patsana”, or “A Fella’s Word”, takes place in the criminal world of perestroika-Tatarstan era. By the late 1980s, street gangs in the Russian republic had become infamous. Young children “shared the tarmac” of Kazan, the regional capital, under the eyes of older criminals. Those who joined the gangs were called patsany, and had some sort of protection. Those who did not do so, chushpanywere the targets of often extreme violence.
Zhora Kryzhovnikov’s eight-part series is an unsentimental vision of late Soviet decadence, cynicism and sadism. Its high production values and flawless drama made it a hit almost as soon as it aired in November. In Russia, its title was the most searched term on search engines; in Ukraine it was not far behind. The title music, which is not identified in the credits because the musicians are anti-war, topped the charts in both countries.
Ukrainian officials fear the series could serve as Russian propaganda: it is funded by a state agency tasked with providing “patriotic content.” On December 7, Ukraine’s Culture Ministry warned citizens not to watch an anonymous “Russian series” that “spreads violence.” The national film agency has meanwhile declared that public broadcasting of the series is illegal. This has had little impact on streaming, which mainly uses pirate platforms beyond the reach of regulators.
If “Slovo Patsana” is Kremlin propaganda, the Russian government does not seem to know it. Russian officials criticize the series because it romanticizes violence and alternative authorities. Rustam Minnakhanov, the head of Tatarstan, promised to ask the Kremlin to block it. His human rights ombudsman questioned whether this was the work of foreign agents. Moscow senators have demanded that the show be removed from streaming platforms.
The show’s darker episodes, full of severed ears, rape, and murder, make it clear that it does not glorify violence. Commissioned before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is a sober examination of history. But it also offers allegories for the present, says Ukrainian-Russian film producer Alexander Rodniansky: the helplessness of citizens in impossible circumstances. “The problem for the Ukrainian state is that series like these normalize Russians, show them as living people.”■