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Trailers for movie based on Oleksandr Turchynov’s novel “Illusion of Fear” shown on Ukrainian TV

In this fierce, if mildly amusing, mayoral election campaign, one of the major candidates, Oleksandr Turchynov, came up with the most original way to garner the attention of the electorate. The trailer for the movie “Illusion of Fear” based on his novel of the same name is currently circulating on Ukrainian channels, arousing curiosity in film goers. Though it’s still unclear when the movie premieres, it well may be that the fans of Turchynov’s literary talent in anticipation of the film version will rush to give their votes to him just for that.

The making of the film was officially announced in December, and it’s easy to find screenshots of the movie at many Web sites, displaying some dramatic images. Just like the book, the film can be defined as a psychological thriller, and was written in 2005, when Turchynov was the head of the Security Service of Ukraine

The main hero of the story is entrepreneur Ihor Korob, who is arrested and forced to refuse a successful business project, but later escapes and intends to take revenge. However Korob at times loses contact with reality – he’s living a parallel life as King Solomon, his visions being inspired by the paintings of Bosch.

The lead roles in the film are played by well-known actors Andriy Panin and Olena Babenko, with Serhiy Harmash, Oleksiy Petrenko and Oleskiy Horbunov in supporting roles. Which such a list of stars plus a serious budget, the film, directed by Oleksandr Kiriyenko (“Orange Sky” and “Indie”), looks like yet another attempt to make a Ukrainian film, that will actually become popular among Ukrainians.

Though the film is considered entirely apolitical, it nonetheless reveals a lot about corruption and greed of some authorities, and coupled with numerous quotes from the Bible, it certainly makes the author into the noble fighter against all those vices. Therefore its message is quite clear.