Zuzana Caputova rose to the Slovak president’s office on a wave of outrage over corruption and her historic win signaled hope for millions of her country-folk. Five years after the 2019 win, Caputova chose to walk away from the highest office in the land rather than continue fighting the good fight. As Marek Sulik, director of “Ms. President” – which tracks her rise and fall – explains, Caputova wasn’t interested in power for power’s sake.
“Zuzana Caputova has a fascinating ability to stay herself,” Sulik said at the Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival, which opened Friday with the film.
Caputova’s unlikely election grew out of mass protests and anger in the aftermath of the contract killing of Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak and his partner Martina Kusnirova in 2018. The murder investigation turned up ties between the mafia and high levels of the Slovak government of then-Prime Minister Robert Fico.
He was forced out of office and the ensuing presidential election electrified the Slovak citizenry like nothing has since the 1989 Velvet Revolution.
But Caputova, a human rights activist and attorney, found as president, she was soon facing roadblock after roadblock. And death threats followed against both the president and her family.
“The story that took place and is actually still taking place in Slovakia is a variant of what is happening all over the world,” Sulik says. “Nationalists and populists are taking power and that is very bad.”
Caputova faced many of the same forces that confront U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in her campaign for President, according to Sulik.
She also faced “an aggressively misogynistic atmosphere in society,” Sulik says. “With this combination, it is difficult for a politician. I think she was really tired after five years.”
As for what Caputova’s departure from power means for Slovakia, says the director, “Well, it’s cruel, but it seems that the populists have the upper hand. It really feels like something out of a bad movie that could be called ‘The Return of the Bad Guys.’”
Slovakia’s first female president – and a rare such leader in Eastern Europe – never strayed from her ideals, says Sulik.
His insider experience of filming Caputova led to insights into her character – and qualities often rare among national leaders.
“I liked her openness and transparency and decency in discussions,” Sulik says. “She did not use populist methods of manipulation in the debate at the beginning and never after.”
Following Caputova from campaign through inauguration and throughout the rest of her single term, Sulik says he was granted a remarkable level of access in the presidential palace.
The exit of Caputova represents a grave loss, says Sulik. “For me personally, her non-candidacy was a big frustration. Socially, it meant the loss of an important ally in the camp of democratic forces.”
The determining factor in ending her presidency may well have been her ideals, says Sulik.
“Zuzana Caputova, as I know her, is a perfectionist. She never had a proprietary relationship with political power. And at the same time, she has a strong bond with her own family. She cares about the safety of the ones closest to her.”
“At the beginning she said that she did not come to rule but to serve. And I think she found few allies among active politicians who would see their mission in the same way. I think she felt alone.”
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