From the makers of High Water, Heweliusz fuses stunning realism with emotional drama as it dramatizes the mayhem on board the stricken ferry and the harrowing aftermath for the families of those on board. The series captures two parallel battles-one against the storm that took 55 lives and another against the institutions that sought to bury responsibility beneath bureaucracy and corruption.
The story follows the wife of the ship’s captain, Jolanta Ułasiewicz (played by Magdalena Różczka), in her relentless fight to clear her husband’s name after he was wrongfully blamed for the disaster. Alongside her, the sailor Binter (Michał Żurawski) faces his moral struggle: torn between silence and telling the truth, which could destroy him.
From director Jan Holoubek to producer Anna Kępińska, the production is widely regarded as one of the most ambitious Polish dramas ever undertaken. More than 3,000 extras, huge replicas of ships, and complicated water sequences have been used to recreate the terrifying storm in unprecedented detail.
Heweliusz, at its core, is not a survival tale but also one of accountability, loss, and resilience of those who refused to be silenced. It’s how one night on the sea exposed the weaknesses within an entire system and how the pursuit of justice became a generational battle.
Heweliusz premieres worldwide on Netflix this week, promising a powerful, emotional reimagining of a tragedy that changed Poland forever — and a reminder that the waves of truth can never be silenced.
