Oscar-nominated producer Den Tolmor is working on a feature film inspired by Wali, the ex-Quebec sniper who enlisted in the Ukrainian armed forces after the Russian invasion.
Den Tolmor, whose Netflix documentary Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom was nominated for an Oscar, is preparing to begin production on The Good Fight. Written with Nicholas Klein, the screenplay will draw heavily on the story of former Canadian Forces sniper named Wali.
Filming is scheduled to begin later this year and part of the funding has already been secured, as the producer told the American trade journal Deadline.
“The Good Fight” tells the story of a veteran of the SEALs, the American special forces, who travels to Ukraine just before the Russian forces invade to reconnect with his son. He will then take part in the battle and deal with the Ukrainian army. The true story of Wali, a 40-something veteran capable of killing someone more than two miles away, is fictionalized to present a “Western view of the conflict.”
“It doesn’t matter if he’s Canadian or American,” the filmmaker said. This is the story of a man with a different attitude who takes part in what is happening in Ukraine.”
Last March, during an interview with Denis Lévesque, who calls himself Wali to protect his wife, child and entire family, he said he “crossed the Ukrainian border like a refugee.”
During the first months of the war, Wali – a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who also volunteered to fight with the Kurdish forces against the Islamic State – was part of a “a bit casually organized unit”. We organized it so quickly, it was a mix of contacts, people we know, vehicles.