High Water
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High Water
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this TV show.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that High Water is a Polish drama (available subtitled and dubbed in English) inspired by the July 1997 millennium flood that devastated parts of the Czech Republic and Poland. There isn't a lot of violence or images of human suffering, but deaths occur off-screen and people are shown looking for loved ones. One episode also contains a brief sexual encounter (but no nudity). There's lots of cursing and cigarette smoking, and drug addiction is a theme.
What's the Story?
Inspired by true events, the drama HIGH WATER (aka Wielka Woda) is centered around one of the worst natural disasters in Poland's history. It's summer 1997, and Jasmine Trener (Agnieszka Zulewska), a troubled hydrologist who, based on her findings, believes that the city of Wroclaw is in danger of being flooded. Weeks after contacting the local government about the potential of a disaster, she's called in by administrator and aspiring politician Jakub Marczak (Tomasz Schuchardt) to consult on the situation. Trener wants to find a solution before it's too late, but she's constantly being challenged by an "old boy network" of scientists and officials about what needs to be done. The inability of the local government to provide updated maps and other crucial information, and resistance from locals, are also major obstacles. As the waters rise, Andrzej Rębacz (Ireneusz Czop), who returned to the area to take care of his ailing father's house, finds himself trying to help the locals prepare for, and survive, what's coming.
Is It Any Good?
The Polish series combines fact and fiction to highlight how the city of Wroclaw was devastated by the July 1997 millennium flood. The imagined storylines reveal the politics and cultural norms of the time, while pointing the finger at the government's history of mismanagement, as well as its bad decision-making before, during, and after the disaster. These narratives are combined with archive footage of the flood to underscore the catastrophic impact of those failures. However, most of the drama in High Water comes from the personal relationships between the characters, some of which are slowly revealed as events move forward. It's not the most action-packed series, but these connections make it entertaining.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about hydrology. What does a hydrologist do? Why is their role so important? What kind of training does one have to have in order to work in this field?
High Water doesn't rely on a lot of violence to show how devastating the floods were. How does this compare with fictional TV series or movies about natural disasters that are produced in the United States? Which storytelling style do you like better?
TV Details
- Premiere date: October 5, 2022
- Cast: Agnieszka Zulewska, Tomasz Schuchardt, Ireneusz Czop
- Network: Netflix
- Genre: Drama
- TV rating: TV-MA
- Last updated: October 24, 2022
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