Production and acting were very good, but where this true disaster movie excels is placing the characters Jasmina and Adam, former lovers, within the center of the series. As a hydrologist, Jasmina takes the reins quickly in predicting the disaster and offering advice to an unbelieving cadre of political officials and other experts, including her ex-lover Adam. Jasmina harbors the secret of her 14 year old daughter with Adam, telling no one so her daughter Klara won't learn that she was a heroin addict still struggling on methadone treatments. Without their previous relationship emerging throughout the crisis I cannot see how you could create a compelling series on a flood. Binged all six episodes and was anything but slow. I highly recommend.
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Erik_Surewaard7 October 2022That this show is based on the 1997 floodings in Poland, makes it all the more interesting. Taking place just 8 years after the Berlin Wall fell, we also get to see how the old Soviet bureaucracy still had a lot of influence,
One can clearly see that much effort has been put in making this show period authentic. The cars, props and the way people dress just transport you back to the mid 90's. It is just awesome to see the cars that we were driving in some 25 years ago. This is also one of the reasons that I like for instance the highly popular show "Stranger Things", since it transports you back to the 80's.
The dramatization of the events also include a storyline about a female hydrologist and her interaction with the government and the citizens living in the endangered areas. This storyline however is completely fictitious and is partially over-the-top. A man that she 'coincidentally' meets early on - a citizen living in the area whose father is in the hospital - leads a little uprising which just makes the story difficult to believe.
Overall, the acting and cinematography are pretty decent. The increasing amount of internationally produced movies and shows, clearly show that quality content is increasingly able to compete with U. S.-produced content. One big gap however is still caused by the often low-quality dubbing. I myself really prefer to watch content with english dubbing - instead of using subtitles - and the english dubbing in this show just isn't realistic. The voices do not fit and the lip-movements are noticeably unsychronized with the voice.
Summarizing, I would have preferred it if the producers would have solely focussed on the real events. I think that an alternative edit of the movie - where lots of the interactions of the woman hydrologist would be removed - would make a way more interesting show. The current 6 episodes could thereby be reduced to 4 episodes, which would make it more fit with what amount of time I would want to put in this show. Those 4 episodes would make me rate this show with 7 stars, instead of the 6 stars it deserves in its current 6-episode setup. -
getuliohf18 February 2023This story about Poland drama is really touching. However, many points of the story is a little tedious because spent many time in static situations. I believe 3 or 4 episodes could be enough to tell the hole story, and giving to the trama a little more dynamic.
But, after all, it was very good to know what happened in that part of world history, where politicians and incompetent "professionals" have decided for their convenience instead of acting in favor of the people.
This story also showed how difficult is to convince everybody to leave their lives and homes even knowing about the risks. -
Luigi Di Pilla16 October 2022High Water shows the greatest ecological disaster after the Second World War. It's done with great authenticity and the actors delivered great performance. I was especially surprised by the sceneries of the high water situation in the city. You could believe that it has happened just now and there is no way out. It's really amazing to see it.
I find there are not too many series that extends this water catastrophe and the running of each episode is good too. So if you like this genre of movies check it out. If you want to see another top environmental disaster movie then watch the earthquake Hollywood film San Andrea. -
yqpvgmrm14 October 2022This show tells a story of my town of Wroclaw, I was 17 years old when that happen and remember it so vividly. I remember the anticipation in the air, the fear, but also people saying "nothing will happen". All these conflicting feelings and messages have been portrayed so well in this show. 25 years after the tragedy, it brought all the memories back. I recognise the old footage intertwined in this show from news outlets, that's such a great idea to add it.
I love this show, because it portrays the tragedy really well, the politics and the family drama that all took place during that July. Sure, some of it is fictional, but each family I know in Wroclaw had their own share of drama, and while the show made some creative decisions, the spirit of that is just right. The town of Kety and the villages fighting for it is actually called Lany (south east of Wroclaw).
I gave this 10 stars because all the characters are incredibly believable, there is a great attention to detail to make Wroclaw look exactly like 1997, and I can feel the writers clearly took a great care to understand what people went through and portray all the stupid decisions that were made.
I remember reading an interview where one of the members of the HQ said to the men in the room "this discussion is all fascinating, but it should be taking place in an university lecture hall not here! Here we need decisions". -
tyty_bratz11 October 2022This show was interesting. The preview intrigued me and I wanted to see how this girl and her dog survived the randomly incoming waters. However, it took a long time to get to that point, about 4 episodes or so, which to me was weird. But I was a big fan of our protagonist, the way she carried herself and dealt with her struggles. It was good to see the world through her eyes. At some points, I found her lack of action frustrating, like when dealing with the people of Kety and arguing with Novak, but when the going got good, the show was seriously stressful and intense. I was on the edge of my seat so many times. It's a decent watch!
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jonwoodh7 October 2022Based on real events I found High Water engrossing from its first episode on until its conclusion. Employing fictional characters to portray the impending disaster was a clever move by the show makers. It allowed the leads to be portrayed in depth without any possible lawsuits, and there's a moving sub-plot that gets resolved close to the end. Filming and acting was great throughout, I especially enjoyed the female lead who tried to warn the incompetent local bureaucrats stuck in the past. In a way it's reminiscent of another recent brilliant series Five Days at Memorial, about the Hurricane Katrina tragedy.
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ikanboy17 October 2022We watched this just after surviving Hurricane Ian and being partially flooded out. Gluttons for punishment? The focus is on the main character, a strapping, attractive blond who has the right answers about flood plains and rivers but the wrong ones about her personal life. Luckily we get to see her in 90% of the series.
It's a good show for those who like action and it builds that up quite well. It's about a true flood in 1997 and I'd hate to think that the government officials were that blind, or that Poland has such a poor infrastructure.
I'm sure glad she managed to get her blimp of a mother moved in time. Some body suit! -
pourtoutetrienmv9 October 2022This is one of Netflix's rare masterpieces. Zulewska is particularly brilliant in her role that she plays to perfection... just like the whole casting. This true story is told in a thrilling, moving and stressful way. The fast script keeps us constantly on the alert... and I found no boredom by unnecessary scenes except perhaps during the last episode. In addition, we like to hate some of the characters.
I also loved how the team was able to reproduce authenticity of the time.
Like a book that you can't stop reading... I watched the six episodes back-to-back on a Sunday.
The Director mastered this serie. -
pserpico-1171410 October 2022The acting is dreadful. The dubbing is laughable. It's three episodes too long. The lead actress is totally overdone as well. Focusing on her idiosyncrasies takes away from the story. One scene shows her punching the executive in charge in the mouth. The smoking of cigarettes incessantly was unnecesary to the story as well. I think the biggest error was making trhis a six episode story. The whole point of this story was to show the tension that was building towards an impending disaster. But they chose to inject all these other distractions from that goal. It broke the tempo too many times. Sorry.
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wsgddvmd8 October 2022Wow, just wow. Got hooked up and binged all episodes in one afternoon. Terrific acting and marvellous shots of a major urban city hit by the flash flood. It has the vibes of "The Last of Us" video game, and the HBO's "Chernobyl" series, showing incompetence of the government in face of a natural disaster.
The cast are fantastic and really makes you care what's about to happen to the characters, especially later as the story develops. The main female character reminds me of Carrie in Homeland, I don't want to spoil why - played by a superb actress that made me weep in key moments.
I watched the original with subtitles but the English dubbing is pretty good also. An Emmy's on a way, well done Netflix, for once. -
anotherloverholeinurhead9 October 2022The all men are stupid and only a woman can be right was over the top. At least in the English dubbed version. Overall I liked the show and the effects and storytelling.
I get the lone person trying to have their voice heard but the two plus episodes of everyone being a moron was too much.
Once we actually get water where it shouldn't be the show got better.
Again it may just be the translation or the voice actor but the lead was really difficult to sympathize or get behind. I have no problem with strong women in movies or in real life so that's not the issue at all.
But having actual events and choosing to use made up people as your main characters is a poor choice. -
tambourinist22 October 2022I was around 14 when the flood happened and still remember watching the news about it. I find the topic of the series very interesting.
Unfortunately, the acting and the script in this series are simply unbearable.
The main character is the worst. Horribly over the top, she's unwatchable in the role. As much as I love strong female characters, this one is absolutely unconvincing in her role of "one woman against everybody". The series creators decided to make Jasmina some kind of House, M. D. - a brillant, but complex character and unfortunately this goal is clearly recognizable from the beginning. 10 minutes into the series you know what role she will play in the story and you know everything about her. She's not a character, she's a cliche.
The problem with the Polish cinema is it tends to take viewers for idiots, it avoids any kind of ambiguity and character development. Simply horrible.
I only give it 3 stars because of an interesting topic. -
Typical Hollywood movies tie everything up nicely at the end.
But some movies leave one guessing about a few things, and being left wondering about what happens next often makes a great movie.
Days after seeing the last episode, the main thing in my memory about the series is the unanswered question of "what happened to the ...?".
Unfortunately that is for a totally irrelevant detail, not for something intellectually or emotionally interesting.
The writers of this series obviously never heard of Tolstoy's gun, and the series needlessly suffers for the resulting frustration.
The other annoying thing is the way Netflix has been labelling languages in the subtitles lately. When people switch to speaking French or English or German, the subtitle begins with "{French}" etc., but when they revert to the prevalent language of the rest of the production, the subtitle says "{English}", not "{Polish}". This is very confusing and annoying.
But if you can handle such things better than I can, it's worth watching. -
canisthya21 October 2022At the ending credits of the last episode, I just found out that this series based on true story of flood disaster in Poland..
Jasmina Tremer (Agnieszka Zulewska) play a realistic main protagonist who is annoying and hard to sympathize at, but with a brain. She is the intelligent one that surrounded by the rest of the characters from the bureaucrats office who are indecisive or keep making wrong choices. It is a bit ridiculous to see. Did the script intentionally make her stand out? I think the script has a lil tendency to make certain characters look a certain way, especially the governor who suddenly become the hero towards the end.
The dialogue is packed with important details so you need to pay attention to understand the plot.
All in all, the visual of the flood and after the flood is very well executed. It reminds me of my own country who faced flood at the similar scale years ago. -
signaczak18 October 2022The serie was really good. Some motives taken from Death Stranding like transporting a dead body. The main character didn't seem real though also the actress weren't as great at her role but boy did they gave the feeling of water on your pants - this part was a really good job. I don't understand why it didn't rain - normally a flood is connected with really heavy rains day and night. The music was compeling and also pictures. Unfortunately there were some cringe moments as well - crocodile escaping the ZOO and the evilish music. What was that about? In overall I feel that Wielka Woda met the needs of people in south-central europe to tell their story. I'm from the north so I didn't feel that much engaged.
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sylviazimonczyk11 October 2022Only one thing ruined the 10* review from me... In the beginning of the first episode, action was set in Poland in 1997 but the actress was wearing T-shirt from Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam which was established 2 years later, in 1999. Bad research from producers, I guess. That was very emotional time to watch the flood on news in real life, real time. Poland, Czech Republic and Germany and other countries in central Europe had to deal with this power of nature. Earth sends us singnals from decades, to help it restore its natural beauty. Good that someone creates shows like that to remind how powerful nature is. Quite interesting tv series indeed...
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vpgzvph16 October 2022This is seriously good series by Netflix. I have enjoyed each od the episodes watching 3 per day. In 1997 I have witness what happen in Poland. This series showing what decisions and actions were taken in that year. One of the biggest natural tragedies in Poland history. Story showed in that series is fake but it's ideal in this case. Characters are fake but there is lot's of truth as well. It shows how Poland was not ready for the flood and it shows that this can happen to any country and they should be ready to face it and fight agains this terrible natural disaster. I would like to highly recommended this series.
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shivagauri_hari_om29 October 2022Well written and acted. It was captivating we couldn't stop watching it.
The characters used were interesting, believable and touching.
I recommend watching this. There aren't many words to say it is just simply a masterpiece.
I wonder how people write these reviews because you have to use six hundred characters and I don't have six hundred characters to write. Just watch the series and you are likely to enjoy it unless you have a brain wrong.
It was very intelligently written. The way the characters interlaced.
I felt this needed a ten star review to give the series justice and recognition for all the good work put in by the people involved. -
shoppsi1 January 2023This is another one of those "everyone is an unlikable clown" movie.
The main character is a chain smoking addict in recovery who apparently is smart but unable to communicate. She throws tantrums and walks out like a 3 year old.
To be fair, the men in this movie are basically morons; unwilling to listen to her at all, so I can see how it was frustrating.
I watched the dubbed English version so maybe that's why they all seemed so dumb; maybe something was lost in the translation.
Spoiler alert: People know the flood is coming, yet the lady watching the teen sees nothing wrong in letting the kid take her dog out for a walk. No warning her to stay inside, or to let the dog pee on the stoop and then come right back in, or anything. Plus she falls asleep. What kind of caregiver does that. Just thinking how everyone I know would have been on that kid like white on rice, bombarding her with warnings and telling her what to do. In this show...not so much.
Every single character seemed emotionally stunted. It was weird.
Again, maybe something was lost in the translation.
It was interesting other than the bad acting/writing. -
ezebinker17 October 2022This is a very good Netflix show. I don't know why the episodes and the series have these ratings... The filming and the recreation of the drama are done great and the show keeps you in front of the tv with high expectations.
Maybe some annoying things like the behaviour of the main character and all the situation with her mother, and also the "love" between marczak and his girlfriend, but all the rest was nice to watch.
I guess that Netflix is bringing us worse quality since the pandemic and it's difficult to find good series in this platform to watch. So however that, I think Wielka Woda deserves better ratings. -
erhanipekciler4 December 2022First of all I love this genre, I think I watched all kind of disaster movies and I can say this is a good one, of course I am sure a little writers added some drama but it is really tragic situation. I love the characterizations in series also thanks God not too much stupid and unnecessarily long episodes. In the middle of the series I just wondered who will die, who will live. Cinematographicly it is also very nice, I love the scenes and it looks really 1997. I did read the negative comments here but I don't understand actually, this is really good and watchable. I wonder what happened the dog I hope it is ok :) Good and watchable for 2022.
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lauowolf12 January 2023Once you get past the rather wooden dub it's fantastic, though maybe a little confusing the first time through. When I actually tracked who was who... and I think that was my problem more than the show's... it clicked. The second time through it was just stellar. A magnificent display of Everything is Messed Up. A lot of what feels like clutter... the drug stuff, the smoking, is - like the constant little deals, the semi-bribes, and outright corruption - just another coping strategy for people dealing with a dysfunctional world. And it's the dysfunction, not the flood, that is the story. Though the rising waters are pretty damn cool.
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wonderclancy27 October 2022I usually get bored in the first episode of shows I try to watch but this kept me glued to the tv for all six episodes. I never knew anything about this disaster but now I want to read more about it. The storyline was fascinating and felt authentic. The acting was superb. I can't say enough good things about this series. Everything was top notch, the script, sets, storyline, the acting. It felt so real that it almost seemed like a documentary at times. The toll this flooding took on these towns and people should be a warning to the world of what can happen if we don't take global warming seriously. I highly recommend this series to anyone who loves well-written, compelling shows based on true stories.
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newkrejados7 November 2022The cast and crew gave an interview in a Polish magazine to herald this series release. The main takeaway: it wasn't about the flood at all. In fact, they all averred that it's the common story of mothers and daughters and men with their complicated family relationships. Power v people and city interests v country interests. Same stories that have been told countless times, against many backdrops.
The one thing this series didn't do: honor the flood victims. What of the people of Wroclaw? Many were traumatised by this event; some lost everything they had. They were left devastated. And they were given barely a footnote.
It's hard to see Wielka Woda as anything but crass commercialisation of tragedy. Especially compared to Rain or Shina, a KDrama that revolves around the Sampoong department store collapse in 1995. Unlike this trite, mediocre fiction, that entire show is a tribute.