GROM soldiers' stories created a hero. I wanted Max to be credible. The fact that he is isolated, that he lives in the mediate of nowhere, that he avoids people, keeps distance, is very real. This is the life of many peculiar army ex-soldiers," says Robert Ziębiński, screenwriter of the movie “Devil” and author of the fresh with the same title. The painting will enter cinemas on 28 November.
You wrote the script for the first always movie about Military Unit GROM. We have had this formation in Poland for almost 3 decades and no 1 was able to tell about it on a large screen...
Robert Ziębiński: As far as I know, there were respective attempts, 1 of them was made by Wojciech Smarzowski. It didn't work, the concept of the movie shattered over the budget. No wonder erstwhile you want to shoot conflict scenes, operations in Iraq or Afghanistan, you must have immense money. I decided to bite the subject from a different angle, alternatively of showing military operations, scenes of large fighting, I decided to tell the communicative of the man who survived these missions. I invented Max's character. That is what the Devil is about.
Who's Max?
Former GROM Military Unit soldier. Not from the beginning, though. due to the fact that Max was created for the needs of a short communicative written for the publishing home from Tarnowskie Góry. They asked me for a communicative that would take place somewhere around this town. So I wrote about 20 pages of a communicative about a erstwhile soldier returning to his hometown. His experience in the ministry, however, does not let him to find himself there. I gave it to Eric Lubos, the actor, and privately to my friend. He started to talk me into writing a fresh and then a story-based script. However, the main hero was to be a erstwhile GROM soldier.
How did you come up with it?
He's a character tied up with a fewer current soldiers and veterans who told me their stories. Not all names can be mentioned, but Max is among others Grzesiek Wydrowski, a erstwhile operator of GROM, present the president of the Foundation “Common with GROM”, “Harnaś”, Arek “Motyl Dembiński, Marcin “Lewy” Wyszyński. Max is besides a alleged passing captain, that is, a soldier who is overlooked in promotion to a higher degree. specified a individual besides truly exists, although “unfortunately” late promoted. (Laughter) But not only did I perceive to their stories, I besides watched them. I was curious in how they behave, how they talk, erstwhile they carry guns... These are different people, although it is very hard to capture and explain what this uniqueness is about. In Tarnowskie Mountains we conducted documentation for the film. We went to the diner to have a beer, although she was far from a cultural place with a palm. It was alternatively a local killing ground, and a alien most likely only goes in there to get "after the mouth". We went in six, 4 GROM veterans, me and Eric. but the 4 of them came in the front, and we just followed them, so we could watch what was going on. And the restaurant was quiet, all eyes turned on them. There's a passageway so they can get to a table in the mediate of the room. We made an appointment there with the local guide Sławek. We were all sitting together erstwhile 1 of the regulars pulled him distant from our group and started a discussion. At 1 point, Sławek burst into laughter. He had to explain who we were, due to the fact that the guy said that he “showed that they were not good chicks.”
If I know veterans, I think he's overreacting!
Of course. But he was afraid to look at 4 very average men. There's something about them. I hope the viewers discover it in the movie.
I'm curious what these "terrifying four" have told you about themselves.
Enough to go besides far! Initially, I gave Max many traumas, both professional and private. Wojtek Smarzowski, to whom I told about my hero, pointed out to me that “each another trauma endures the weight of the erstwhile one. If a man survived his brother's death, then his loved ones, and at the end of his colleagues in the unit, then if he's carrying it all, he'll become a galimatias, not a trauma. Clean it up." And I started taking distant any of Max's experiences. It turned out that leaving 1 serious event behind, which brings another, turned out to be healthy.
I know from experience that it's not easy to gain the assurance of GROM guys. How'd you do that?
(Laughter) You want to know what it was like?
I guess the link is Erik Lubos, the maker of Max's function in Diable.
It was. Eric appeared in a video promoting the unit a fewer years ago, until present he is very close to the boys, friends. It's not like you're getting into this environment like butter and sitting happy in a chair and all your friends around. First Eric took my book to 1 of the soldiers. This 1 read it, we met to talk about the script, and we made contact very quickly. And then Eric took me to 1 of the unit's celebration parties. It was summer. I'm going to the place where the soldiers met, I'm looking for Eric, who was expected to be there. And in the mediate of 2 100 men and everyone looks like "don't come near." And I stand there with glasses on my nose and 15 kilos overweight. After a minute that – I had the impression – lasted forever, from the end of the hall the Dryblas called me: “Hi, Robert!”. It was the soldier who read my book. His ‘hello’ was a stamp that sanctioned my presence. It was inactive easier.
You asked veterans not only for stories, but besides for consultations. What did they look like?
I've always had quite a few language adjustments from them. We are not saying "food", we are saying "food", we are saying "food", we are saying "money", we are saying "seed", I have besides introduced a typical military vocabulary. It came to a minute erstwhile this military dialect was besides much, then the maker came and pointed out that it was incomprehensible, it had to be "dundescented". But there were more.
Tell me!
On 1 occasion, I got a call from “Left” who in GROM took care of section K9 – combat dogs, but was besides an expert on dogs on the plan “Devil”. And he yells on the phone, "Put it out of the script now!" “But what?” I ask. “That a bitch throws herself down someone’s throat. The dog does not do that!!!’ I had to say no. due to the fact that it's a movie where we gotta build drama. It's left. But it wasn't like I was always on my own. The GROMs were my guides to the military planet and their opinion was very crucial to me.
So how much fact about being a soldier is in Diable?
I took quite a few boys' stories and mixed them with me. The action that actually took place in Iraq is happening in Afghanistan. Shot in my leg is simply a gunshot to the hand. But I wanted Max to be credible. The fact that he isolates himself, that he lives in the wilderness, that he avoids people, keeps distance, is very real. This is the life of many peculiar troops.
And do you know what's very different from reality in your script?
I know, I know. A female commander.
Exactly. I fishy this will be the most discussed subject in the film. A female in charge of a combat team? I can already hear the desperate voices of “experts”.
I had very long discussions with soldiers and GROM veterans about why I wanted to do it. After all, there are no women in the peculiar Forces in specified positions, and more than that, there has never been, and there is no change. but “The Devil” is not a documentary about GROM. It's a feature movie that needs a character that the viewer would like. And I am convinced that this will be the case with the character played by Aleksandra Popławska. You can cry, you can complain, you can be offended, but it is worth remembering that the movie is for a wide audience, not only for military professionals.
And what will those viewers who know more about the military than the average Pole appreciate in the film?
I hope you care about detail. The way Eric uses a gun, he yet trained truly long under the eyes of the boys. But they taught not only how to shoot but besides how to die. There's a scene in the movie where Max kills individual on the stairs. He shoots him in the head. And how did the stuntman play it? He got hit in the head, grabbed the railings by the stairs, and started telepping. 1 of the guys had to explain to him that erstwhile individual shoots you in the head, they cut you off, you don't catch anything, you don't telegraph, you just shut off the power. The scene was recorded respective times due to the fact that the stuntman was hard to defy theatrical gestures. He was utilized to the fact that even dying must be awesome and beautiful. The boys had to convince him it wasn't ballet. Killing isn't nice.
How long did you get the GROM to put the name of the unit in the movie?
The name is public, and I didn't truly gotta ask anyone's permission, just like no 1 asks if he can make a hero of a police officer's communicative or a man from the Central Bureau of Investigation. However, I talked a long time about this with the soldiers, any of whom denied hands and feet before this idea. Therefore, in the book first volume and in the movie “Devil”, the name “GROM” is not straight mentioned. But our hero has a tattooed “twenty-third of May” (2305 is the GROM unit number – ed.), refers to the things that the individual did, so it is known where he came from and what he did. Then I looked at the novel, which is entirely built on the stories of GROM soldiers, and I thought: “Jesus, who are we lying to? What is this unusual dance?’ I realize what he's saying. We in Poland have a problem with cool patriotic marketing, akin to that in the USA, where peculiar units specified as Delta or Rangers frequently appear on a large screen. The SEALs even got their own movie. So why not make movies about GROM, with full respect for the uniform and military experience? So I said, "Basta, let's not pretend it's a communicative about individual else." Therefore, from “Medea”, or the second volume of the Max story, I felt that I would not play to hide anything. After all, I don't tell any secrets, I don't tell you what the boys' stock truly looked like. I make up stories based on what the GROM soldiers truly survived. And if the side effect of the communicative about Max “Diable” Achtelik is that any young boy or girl will think she wants to go to selectionIt'll only work out in favor.
