High Water (Wielka woda) - First Season

A NETFLIX SERIES

THIS SERIES IS AN ARTISTIC VISION OF THE CREATORS, INSPIRED BY REAL EVENTS.

ALL CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN CREATED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE STORY.

MAY 25, 1997, WROCŁAW

I will say this.

As the mayor of this fine city,

that Pope John Paul II is visiting, is a source of great pride for me.

I totally agree, sir.

And, Mayor, do you know what the celebrations will look like exactly?

We want to greet John Paul II with a very special celebration,

and therefore, I hope the weather will be good

and that everything will work out as planned.

We've been working on these welcoming ceremonies for over a year.

So in short, I'm expecting a great celebration for our city.

- We'll be keeping our fingers crossed. - Thank you very much.

"URGENT: FLOOD ANALYSIS FOR THE CITY OF WROCŁAW AND SOUTH-WEST POLAND

BASED ON METEOROLOGICAL RESEARCH BY J. TREMER, M.SC."

And this is the route of the Popemobile.

Gentlemen, 1,200 policemen,

soldiers, civil defense... That should be enough for the Pope.

Moreover... Excuse me. May I?

Is there a problem, gentlemen?

Uh, Colonel, please continue.

Yes, sir. We're going to secure the event in the typical way by means of cordons.

We'll have disguised Special Ops teams in the crowd. Is that correct, Chief Talarek?

Yes, sir. We'll send our best men.

There is only one crucial spot.

Here, by the Szczytnicki Weir, there's a narrowing.

They're doing work on the riverbanks.

So we'll need to close this section to onlookers.

Then we'll do just that.

Speaking of the weir, have we done any preparations in case of a major flood?

What flood?

It's not raining. There's a drought, right?

Who wrote this?

Tremer? Who's he, anyway?

SIX WEEKS LATER

TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1997, ŻUŁAWY WETLANDS

- -

Moja! Moja!

- - Oh, fuck!

Stay back, stay back, stay back, stay back.

- Stay back, boys. - Damn!

I've got perfect aim! Fine piece, huh?

Why do you look so sad, missy? The herd needs to be thinned.

- Shoot your own dick off. - What did you just say?

You'll pay for this, asshole! She was with a fawn.

What are you, crazy? Oh, fuck!

Yeah, I'm fucking crazy! Give me your papers.

- What papers? - Your fucking hunter's ID.

What? What hunter ID?

- Don't touch me! - This fucking ID!

Let's go. Moja, Szelma!

- Szelma! -

Oh! I brought the newspapers.

I'm sick of this damn motorbike. You piece of junk.

How's it going?

We have to go to town today. I'm running out of methadone.

Why are you still taking it?

IS POLAND FACING A MILLENNIUM FLOOD?

You don't need it anymore.

Cut it out, will you? You shouldn't have talked me into this shit.

It's the best thing I've ever done.

Plus, you don't want me to be as bitchy as my mother.

If she's bitchier than you, it's good I haven't met her.

Same to you. Pow-pow-pow!

So much smoke.

What about your home smoker? The whole Żuławy stinks!

Who's this?

An idiot who shot a doe.

She was with a little fawn.

- Is that why you're so mad? - Yes.

Why don't we make a little fawn today?

I haven't showered yet.

That's why you turn me on.

What is your name?

What is your name, sir?

Van Hoek. Arjen Van Hoek!

Van Hoek? Tremer! I'm looking for Tremer!

That's me! I'm Tremer.

Ha! Really?

- Yes! - You have to come with us.

- What does he mean, "Come?" - It'll be okay, Arjen.

- What are you doing? - I have to help them.

Van Hoek, you shouldn't get so angry.

Your little miss will be home before you even know it. Let's go.

I saw that Van Hoek has a smoker.

Where'd he learn that? Not in his country, I guess.

Why not?

They don't have any forests, so they have nothing to smoke with.

What? Are you afraid of flying?

The flight itself isn't scary. Landing...

- Landing is the worst. - Yeah, I know.

Lt. Colonel Macioszek, my deputy.

- Hi there. - Hey.

Please, get in. You can go ahead, miss. Sit in the back.

Are they going to the flood?

- Nah. NATO exercises. - And the sandbags?

They're reinforcing trenches.

It's from the Holy Father.

You know he paid us a visit at the beginning of June.

I tell you what. What a humble man he is.

- It was pouring then. Eh, Macioszek? - Yes, sir.

And there he was, standing in his hat with that tassel,

listening to our brass band in the rain. I tell you.

So he wouldn't offend anyone.

- So, are you a believer? - No, I'm not.

- It's been a while since you've been here. - Yup.

Big changes. Many changes.

CLOUDLESS FUTURE FOR POLAND: JAKUB MARCZAK

Why so late? Everyone's here.

I wanted to show Miss Tremer a bit of the city.

She's not here on a sightseeing trip. You understand?

- Welcome. - Hey.

I understand safety measures, but the 20th floor?

Isn't that a bit extreme?

You're next to a TV station?

Yes, hence the 20th floor. You know what they say. Keep your friends close

but your enemies even closer.

MERCURY TELEVISION

Hello.

Hello, everyone.

This is Miss Tremer. Let's maybe introduce ourselves.

- Dr. Sławomir Góra. - Hello.

He's responsible for the specialist hospital here in Wrocław.

- Hello. - Pleasure, ma'am.

This is Police Chief Andrzej Talarek.

- And this is our... - Oh, sorry.

Our HQ assistant, Maja Kruk.

- Hi. - Take a seat, please.

Okay.

You already know Colonel Czacki and Lt. Colonel Macioszek,

and these are our hydrology experts.

Professor Jan Nowak, head of the Hydrogeology Department.

And this is Dr. Piepka.

I was actually against bothering you.

We're doing quite well here already. We really don't need any of your support.

Exactly. I don't know if you've heard of the study by Professor Nowak,

"Alluvial Fans and Regulating Flood Control of Rivers in their Lower Course."

- A groundbreaking work in flood control. - Yeah.

But Wrocław is in the middle course of the river.

Uh, the head of the Fire Department, Chief Kolski,

will join us later with more information.

We're still waiting for the mayor.

What about you, Mr. Marczak?

- What about me? - What's your role here?

Uh...

- I'm acting Province Governor. - And where's the actual governor?

He went to the US to handle contracts for the province.

Ah. He chose an interesting time to be absent.

And you studied at Utrecht, didn't you? A doctorate?

- Uh-huh. - But no degree, right?

You just seem too young.

That's correct. I much prefer field work to theory.

But why the Netherlands?

Why didn't you want to stay in Poland?

There are no coffeeshops.

- What? - No legal pot.

- Hello! - Hello, sir.

I sincerely apologize for being late.

But as they say, nobody's perfect.

Mr. Mayor, this is Miss Tremer. She just arrived.

Ah! The fax you sent almost gave me a heart attack, Miss Tremer.

I only draw conclusions from various sources.

- Mr. Marczak told me about you. - He couldn't stop praising me?

Yes, precisely.

All right. Let's get started now, because there isn't much time.

Professor Nowak, do we have any new data?

My calculations clearly show that Wrocław can sleep peacefully.

Last night, Kłodzko was flooded.

Floods hit Kłodzko at least once a decade, you know. It's nothing unusual.

Still, the water is coming closer to Wrocław.

- Kłodzko isn't Wrocław. - That's much worse.

What do you mean?

Well, Kłodzko gets hit by major floods typical in the mountains,

and there, most of the water floods the city but tends to leave quickly.

In Wrocław, if the river overflows its banks, the water will stay here.

- It has nowhere to go. - Except Wrocław won't have an overflow.

- Do we even know today's water levels? - Yes. Alarm levels are slightly exceeded.

Well, not so slightly. By several centimeters.

- How many exactly? - Just slightly.