A Good Man (Horoshiy chelovek)

Origin and Year: Russia, 2020	Director: Konstantin Bogomolov
Runnning time: 2 x 50 min

The nine-part series was directed by the well-known Russian theater director Konstantin Bogomolov, who is perceived controversially in his country, whose central element in his own plays and visual projects are female characters. This is also the case in this psychological crime story, the main character of which is a policewoman exhausted by her own family drama (played by Julia Snigir, who recently appeared in the series The New Pope). A Good Man follows the search for the Angarsk Maniac, a real mass murderer who murdered 80 women and was sentenced to life in prison five years ago. The series emphasizes both his belief that he is a good man who justly punishes sinful women and the story of the investigating policewoman showing Russia’s strongly patriarchal attitude. The context of the provincial town also plays a role, where the authorities ignore serious environmental problems. Both topics resonate strongly with today’s audience in Russia, which is not very progressive on environmental issues, where there are countless cases of domestic violence unresolved by the authorities, pretended to be deserved punishment or “private family matters.”