Movies Reviews

The Way Back – Movie Review

By Anne Brodie Jan 20, 2011, 12:22 GMT

A group of soldiers who design an escape from a Siberian gulag in 1942. ...more

The Way Back is a harrowing experience, replicating the actual 1940 journey of escapees from a Russian gulag 4000 miles from inner Siberia to India.  This is Peter Weirs’ first film in seven years and it’s one of his best. It must have gripped his imagination and demanded focus because it is a superior film in every way.  It sprang from passion.

Based on a true story that has recently been clouded by controversy, it takes us on their desperate trek across inhospitable terrains towards freedom.  The group includes Colin Farrell as a particularly vicious Russian, Ed Harris as an American prisoner and Jim Sturgess, a naïve newcomer turned into Stalin’s police by his wife.

They band together with a few others and make good their escape. They planned it for months and prepared themselves mentally for it. Finally, they make good their escape during a blinding blizzard.

Initially, their personalities clash, particularly as Farrell’s volatile and violent character, looks to break every rule for his own purposes. Their diverse political backgrounds and nationalities stir up trouble, but they’re forced to reach a truce - although it’s strained. Unless they work together, they won’t survive the cold, snow and hungry wolves close behind. The cold is powerful and soon takes its first victim. 

They can’t find food to eat and while in a collective weakened state, get lost, backtrack, and realize the gravity of their undertaking. They’re starving, weak, suffering from exposure and hopelessness, but their horror of imprisonment in another Stalinist prison forces them to move on. 

Miraculously they start reaching the geographic markers that tell them they are on their way to freedom.

A mysterious young woman (Saoirse Ronan) shows up out of nowhere. They’re mistrustful of her because she can’t explain where she’s from or who she is, but take her along in a humanitarian gesture.

They reach China and warmer weather but their joy turns to horror as they see images of Stalin posted everywhere.  They’re not safe in China either, and soon move on across the deserts towards India.  But deserts bring their own unique torments.

It’s a heart swelling story of courage and fortitude, but it is not without elements of horror. Wherever man is turned loose in nature, horror is just around the corner, especially in the Russian steppes and Asian deserts. Mother Nature is the most violent character of all, and there is no denying her power over life and death.

Weir has made a film that gets directly under the skin.  He gets extraordinary performances out of his actors. Colin Farrell is such a strong one that he flies off the screen.  Weir’s unerring eye for beauty brings us to witness the wonder and awe of the other side of Mother Nature – the beauty of the unspoiled natural world. The threat and the majesty are equally potent, and feel so real that it’s hard to shake the feeling afterwards.

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35mm drama
Written by Keith R. Clarke, Slavomir Rawicz, Peter Weir
Directed by Peter Weir
Opens: Jan 21
Runtime: 133 minutes
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for violent content, depiction of physical hardships, a nude image and brief strong language
Country: USA
Language: English