A Polish political drama series called High Water (Wielka woda) was recently made available on Netflix. The real events of the millennium flood, which happened in 1997 in areas of Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, served as the basis for this fictional work. Directed by Jan Holoubek and Bartłomiej Ignaciuk. In addition to Anna Kpiska, who acts as producer and had the idea for the series in the first place, Kasper Bajon and Kinga Krzemiska are also involved as authors.
The cast of the series includes Agnieszka Żulewska, Tomasz Schuchardt, Ireneusz Czop, Anna Dymna, Jerzy Trela, Mirosław Kropielnicki, Blanka Kot, Tomasz Kot, Adam Nawojczyk, Leszek Lichota, Marta Nieradkiewicz, Łukasz Lewandowski, Roman Gancarczyk, Tomasz Sapryk and Maria Maj.
This is the first time the Flood story has been adapted for the big screen. It shows how in July 1997, when a devastating tidal wave threatened the city of Wroclaw, Poland, scientists and local government officials had to make life-or-death decisions. Jakub Marczak, an aspiring politician, runs the city government and recruits Jamina Tremer, a hydrologist from a rough background, to help in efforts to save the city at all costs.
At the same time, Andrzej Rbacz returns to his hometown, a small town near Wroclaw. There he unexpectedly becomes the leader of the locals who rebel against the catastrophe. Due to the limited time available, the authorities are forced to make a difficult decision that will change not only the lives of the main characters, but also the history of the entire region and the people who lived there.
As the series progressed, we saw the citizens of Kty resisting the decision to flood the city, which ultimately resulted in the water level rising and destroying the entire city. When the river bursts its banks and floods the hospital’s basement, the medical team scrambles to evacuate the patients as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, due to the precarious condition of Andrzej Rbacz’s father, they cannot save his life during the evacuation.
Meanwhile, Andrzej is still present at the demonstration with his son. His boy has no idea how his father is doing and even puts his own life in danger. Klara was seen to be being lured away by the swelling torrent of water, and with Marczak’s concern for Klara’s safety, he races across town to find her. Tremer, on the other hand, enlists the help of an old friend named Half Boot to help her mother.
She shops at her boyfriend’s drug dealer and administers the narcotics to her mother through a syringe. Once she falls unconscious, Half Boot and his buddies help crane the mother upstairs to her neighbor’s house, where she is then placed in her neighbor’s care. After Andrzej returns home and listens to the voicemails that the hospital left for him, he immediately takes the boat to the facility, but encounters resistance from the town’s citizens as they recognize him from the messages.
On the way to the hospital, he realized that his decision to protect the village had resulted in tragedy for the people of the metropolis. In the hospital he meets Jakub Marczak, who was also looking for Klara there and learned from the local news about a deceased girl who was wearing a hoodie with a skull patch. He tells him about the girl who was found in a morgue. Despite his broken heart, he followed them there only to find that it was another woman wearing the sweatshirt.
After observing a number of deceased people in the morgue, Andrzej makes the decision to transport his deceased father’s body to their residence and hold the funeral there. Jamina was about to go out and look for her daughter when she heard about her death on the news and went back down the drug street. Jamina planned to go out and look for her daughter. But Half-Boot stops her from squirting and instead tells her a story about a young woman hanging around in the basement.
When Jamina finally gives in to her anger and goes downstairs, she is relieved that Klara is waiting for her downstairs. Afterwards, the two went to her father’s place of work together so they could give him an update on where she was. During the journey, Klara tries to find out from her whether she is in fact her mother, but does not receive a clear answer from her. Eventually, the three of them find each other at their place of work.
After the flood has cost almost everyone their lives, Ja’mina wants to apologize by speaking honestly to Klara about what happened. She goes so far as to promise her mother that she will never be missed again, even bringing her mother’s granddaughter to meet her.
On the political front, rescue workers from different nations came to Poland to help during the crisis. They delivered water, food and medicine to people stuck in their homes during the crisis. They played an essential role in rescuing people trapped on the road during the disaster, as well as those in other areas.
Will there be a second flood season?
In the end, some of the people responsible for improperly handling the situation were summoned to testify, but it appears that the majority of them were released without due punishment. Even Andrzej was arrested for throwing stones at the military helicopter, although he was apparently released after a short detention. During their time in court, Marczak and Jasmina have a heartfelt farewell talk in which she reveals to him that she is pregnant.
Considering that the dramatized series is based on true events and it is a limited series, the likelihood of a sequel is relatively low. Since the term as a whole revolves around the tide and not the protagonist, there isn’t much room for additional exploration on the subject. Netflix or its producers have not released any information about a possible contract extension.