So weit die Füße tragen (2001)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Hardy Martins

Writers:

Josef Martin Bauer (novel)
Bastian Clevé (writer)

Release Date:

27 December 2001 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

As prisoner of war Clemens Forell, a German soldier during WW II, is sentenced to a labour camp in far east Siberia...

Plot Keywords:

Siberia | Pow | War Criminal | Freight Train | Border

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bernhard Bettermann	...	Clemens Forell
Michael Mendl	...	Dr. Stauffer
Anatoli Kotenyov	...	Kamenev (as Anatoly Kotenyov)
Irina Pantaeva	...	Irina
Iris Böhm	...	Kathrin
Anna Hermann	...	Lieschen
Adalbert Mayer	...	Pfarrer (as Pfarrer Dr. Adalbert Mayer)
Hans Peter Hallwachs	...	Onkel Baudrexel
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Egor Abrossimov
Hans-Uwe Bauer	...	Leibrecht (as Hans Uwe Bauer)
Simon Beckord	...	Frieder
Igor Filchenkov	...	Anastas
Heinrich Giskes
André Hennicke	...	Bauknecht
Johannes Hitzblech	...	Danhorn
Nikolai Kondrashkin	...	Schamane
Vladimir Korpus	...	Semjon (as Wladimir Korpus)
Pavel Lebeshev	...	Chief prison camp
Irina Narbekova	...	Dr. Pachmutova
Anna Sonntag
Antonio Wannek	...	Mattern
Stephan Wolf-Schönburg	...	Klugmann
Aleksandr Yefremov	...	Igor

Also Known As:

As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me (International: English title)

Runtime:

158 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Germany:12 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Germany

Company:

B & C Filmproduktion GmbH

Trivia:

Bernhard Bettermann's grandfathers both were sent to Soviet POW camps at the end of World War Two.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Forell's daughter is looking at a post 1991 map, it shows boundaries of countries that did not exist as independent entities during cold war, such as Croatia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Latvia, etc...

Movie Connections:

Remake of "So weit die Füße tragen" (1959)

"People will help a creature down in the dust--even their worst enemy..."

I saw this film as part of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts film series. It is an extremely well-acted and well-produced adventure, based on the true story of a German POW's incredible journey through the dauntingly wide expanses and multi-ethnic terrain of the former Soviet Union in the late '40s and early '50s. It is beautifully shot on location, outdoor scenes of the rugged Russian landscape being a principle attraction. It is also quite well-acted by Bettlemen, who evokes both sympathy with and admiration for his character, and the rest of the cast. The principle actor spoke for about an hour afterwards. As he admits, the film does not go into detail about why the prisoners were there--no doubt some of them deserved punishment. However, many scenes also concentrate on the main character's wife and children back in Germany. Bettlemen, whose grandfathers both died in Russian POW camps after WWII, said he did the film as much to illustrate their family's plights as that of the prisoners.

The film (and the book) also illustrate that Samaritanism is not dead, and was not, even in Russia at this time. Forrell was, after all, a German soldier, but he would have been unable to cross Siberia without help from people of many diverse people. As Bettlemen related, "People will help a creature driven into the dust, even if it is their worst enemy."