There’s something quite gritty and sinister about a lot of crime dramas coming out of Eastern Europe lately – Croatia’s ‘Four Strangers’, also recently released as part of the Eastern European season. ‘East by Walter Presents, is a good example. This show from Poland has a similar feel.
If you want to avoid all spoilers, stop reading this article now.
As the title suggests (the original title in Polish is “Odwróceni. Ojcowie i córki”), it’s a story of fatherhood and how the decisions of one generation can impact the next. In this case, it is the decisions of a former police commissioner, Pawel Sikora, and those of a former criminal in the Polish mafia, Jan Blachowski (alias Blacha).
Sikora now spends most of her day caring for her grandson; while his daughter, Lidia, pursues her own criminals as a full-time police officer – including Blacha. Blacha’s daughter, Kaska, has just graduated from law school and tries to prove her father’s innocence, while battling her own drug problem.
But it was the mysterious events of 2012 – when Sikora was cracking down on the mafia and using Blacha as an informant to secure convictions – that brought the two older men together again. Since then, Blacha has reinvented himself as a successful and feared businessman. But now rumors are circulating in the press about his involvement in a murder that took place many years before; and these rumors threaten to expose her and ruin Sikora’s reputation – not to mention endanger the lives of their two daughters.
The show – originally aired in 2019 – is actually a sequel to “Odwróceni”, a 2007 series that explains how the main protagonists arrived at their various situations. Maybe Walter Presents might have done better to show this series first to give a story.
I had to watch the opening episode twice to fully follow what was happening; it’s not an easy show to follow, for some reason. I don’t know if it’s the writing or the directing, but I found myself having to stop and replay various scenes. I don’t think it helped me to end up with very little empathy for any of the characters, none of whom are particularly endearing or likable.
Nonetheless, the series was nominated in the prestigious Best Fiction Series category at the Polish Films Awards, so it’s obvious it’s doing something right. Certainly the premise – how the decisions of two men affect their own daughter’s life many years later – is interesting and original. I suspect the opening episode suffered from having to explain much of the previous series’ story it’s based on – as a result it came across as disjointed and, as I said, difficult to follow.
Folder under “one to watch”, I think. I’m not totally sold after one episode, but hopefully subsequent episodes will allow the characters to develop and make it a more enjoyable journey.
Walter Presents: ‘Sins of the Fathers’ is available as a full box set on All 4 now.
