Quote Originally Posted by it-ogo
Quote Originally Posted by Vbar
character in the film (the Duke) who may be seen as a parody of a specific soviet leader: Brezhnev.
The film portrays the Duke as incompetent and disinterested in politics.
I feel like this comparison brought in by head and shoulders. Duke's incompetnce is a clear result of the hereditary nature of his power, which is not the case for Brezhnev. And Brezhnev was enough competent before he got senile imbecility. They look too different in too many aspects.
Я прошу прощения for anything that might have happened to your head and shoulders.

I am only too aware of my deep incompetence about Russian history (and not only).

All I wanted to say can be summarized as follows.
The Very Same Munchausen was produced in 1979. By the mid-1970s Brezhnev’s mental health was not very good.
So, is there anything that prevents us from thinking of Zakharov’s allusion to his contemporary Soviet leader?
The success of a satirical, ironic allusion may depend on how the audience succeeds in “getting” it. And a political allusion (from ludere ~ to play with, jest) may become increasingly obscure, until eventually it is understood by the author alone.

So, you may be quite right when you say “They [Brezhnev and the Duke] look too different in too many aspects”.