Misja Afganistan/Mission Afghanistan is the first Polish film production dedicated to Polish soldiers in Afghanistan, inspired by true events.
This war-film series portrays six months in the life of the Polish Military Contingent on a mission.
It is a story about people who have different beliefs, values, and experiences, but have one place in common – Afghanistan. This TV series focuses on the 2nd Platoon of the 1st Mechanised Infantry Company from Wędrzyn, commanded by a young officer, Lieutenant Paweł Konaszewicz (Paweł Małaszyński).
The series features performances by top Polish actors.
The Quarries in Piechcin
The film was shot in outdoor locations at the training ground in Świętoszów, in the vicinity of Warsaw, and in the limestone quarries in Piechcin, in the Province of Kujawsko-Pomorskie, near Barcin and Pakość. Film critics and viewers united in the opinion that the limestone quarry in Piechcin substituted for the Afghan landscape superbly.
Trivia
- When preparing for his role, Otar Saralidze, an actor from Georgia, who played a Taliban and a Muslim terrorist from Afghanistan, watched training videos prepared for young militants from Al-Qaeda. In addition, he also talked to the Afghans on set, who helped him understand and master difficult dialogues written in the Pashto language.
- The attention to detail is apparent in each element of the TV series. The writers and actors in the film spent several months talking to members of the Polish Military Contingent in Afghanistan, and their families. A number of real soldiers did actually play in the series.
- Before appearing in the film, the actors underwent training supervised by JW GROM, and soldiers who had returned from missions in Afghanistan.
- The process of filming the series used up 250 uniforms and between ten and twenty litres of fake blood, 13,000 rounds were shot, and 30 sets of artificial facial hair were woven for actors playing the Afghans.
- The original costumes for actors playing the Afghans were brought in from the USA and Afghanistan.
- In finding locations in Poland which would be similar to the landscape of Afghanistan, the producers sought the assistance of experts from the departments of geography and geology at the University of Warsaw.
- Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Dolnej Wisły (The Society of Friends of the Lower Vistula) in Chełmno owns a herd of native species of sheep. One of the species, namely Wrzosowka Sheep (Polish Heath Sheep), appeared in one of the scenes in the series, when a group of militants are storming an Afghan village.
Information on the film
Misja Afganistan
Poland 2012, 13 episodes, TV series
Directed by: Grzegorz Kuczeriszka (episode 1), Maciej Dejczer (episodes 2-13)
Screenplay: Jan Pawlicki, Marek Kreutz
Cinematography: Grzegorz Kuczeriszka (episode 1), Jarosław Szoda
Music: Bartosz Chajdecki
Producer: Michał Kwieciński, Beata Ryczkowska
Produced by: Canal + Cyfrowy
Cast: Paweł Małaszyński, Ilona Ostrowska, Tomasz Schuchardt, Eryk Lubos, Sebastian Fabijański, Mikołaj Krawczyk, and others.
