The Way Back (I) (2010)

Siberian gulag escapees walk 4000 miles overland to freedom in India.

Director:

Peter Weir

Writers:

Keith R. Clarke (screenplay), Slavomir Rawicz (novel),

Stars:

Colin Farrell, Mark Strong, Jim Sturgess

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Colin Farrell	...	Valka
Mark Strong	...	Khabarov
Saoirse Ronan	...	Irena
Jim Sturgess	...	Janusz
Ed Harris	...	Mr. Smith
Gustaf Skarsgård	...	Voss
Alexandru Potocean	...	Tomasz
Sebastian Urzendowsky	...	Kazik
Dragos Bucur	...	Zoran
Zahary Baharov	...	Interrogator (as Zahari Baharov)
Sally Edwards	...	Janusz's Wife, 1939
Igor Gnezdilov	...	Bohdan
Dejan Angelov	...	Andrei
Stanislav Pishtalov	...	Commandant
Mariy Grigorov	...	Lazar (as Marii Grigorov)

Storyline

In 1941, three men reach India from Tibet, having walked 4000 miles after escaping a Siberian gulag. The film tells their story and that of four others who escaped with them and a teenage girl who joins them in flight. The group's natural leader is Janusz, a Pole condemned by accusations secured by torturing his wife; he knows how to live in the wilds. They escape under cover of a snowstorm: a cynical American, a Russian thug, a comic accountant, a pastry chef who draws, a priest, and a Pole with night blindness. They face freezing nights, lack of food and water, mosquitoes, an endless desert, the Himalayas, and moral questions of when to leave someone behind.

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Plot Keywords:

india | gulag | american | thug | tibet | 

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Taglines:

Their escape was just the beginning

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violent content, depiction of physical hardships, a nude image and brief strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [fr]

Country:

USA United Arab Emirates Poland

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

21 January 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Camino a la libertad

Filming Locations:

Darjeeling, West Bengal, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$1,208,196 (USA) (21 January 2011)

Gross:

$2,677,401 (USA) (18 February 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Exclusive Films, National Geographic Films, Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is based on a memoir by Slavomir Rawicz depicting his escape from a Siberian gulag and subsequent 4000-mile walk to freedom in India. Incredibly popular, it sold over 500,000 copies and is credited with inspiring many explorers. However, in 2006 the BBC unearthed records (including some written by Rawicz himself) that showed he had been released by the USSR in 1942. In 2009 another former Polish soldier, Witold Glinski, claimed that the book was really an account of his own escape. However this claim too has been seriously challenged.

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Goofs

When they notice Janusz has left the Tibetan monastery and they call for him on the mountain ridge, K2 appears in the background, which is in the Karakorum mountains, far away from where the action rolls, near the Tibetan border with Nepal.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[in Polish, using English subtitles]
Interrogator: [presents pen to sign confession]
Janusz: No.
Interrogator: Bring in the witness.
Janusz's Wife, 1939: [brought in]
Interrogator: Do you know this man? His name?
Janusz's Wife, 1939: Janusz Wieszczek.
Interrogator: Witness, what's your relationship with this man?
Janusz's Wife, 1939: [crying] I am his wife.
[...]

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Connections

Featured in The 83rd Annual Academy Awards (2011)

User Reviews

An epic, exquisitely shot and harrowing adventure about survival and the pursuit of freedom

So the book has been proved false. Does this mean that the "true story" isn't true after all? There have been many claims by others that it is fact instead of fiction. Whatever - it doesn't matter, Peter Weir's "The Way Back", this movie about that book, which tells the tale of gulag escapees and their harrowing journey to freedom, is a well-told and inspiring tale than anything else.

All of the actors are terrific in their roles - Jim Sturgess as the de- facto leader of the bunch, showing a more improved and mature side to his acting since "21"; Ed Harris as the gruff American Smith, who is hard-edged and iron-willed until he eventually befriends...; Saiorse Ronan as Irene, the runaway girl who joins them on their quest - Ronan here shows a perfect balance of various emotions while not overdoing it like many child stars her age... she definitely is one of the best young actresses today; Colin Farrell as the violent yet humorous soldier who protects the team from danger in Siberia and provides comic relief when needed - Farrell shows that he can be tough yet likable at the same time without being completely overblown and shows his versatility as an actor; European actors Dragos Bucur, Alexandru Potocean, Sebastian Urzendowsky and Gustaf Skarsgård round off the remaining escapees and they all acted great in their respective and differing roles. The chemistry between all of the actors at parts are great.

Having said that, the film's only flaw is that it sacrificed substantial characterization for realism and visual spectacles. The characters are thinly but not overly so fleshed out, and the interactions between them are short before the next walking shot. But when it comes to realism and believability the film succeeds. I was surprised when I saw National Geographic was one of the co-producers of the film, but I wasn't as soon as I saw how realistic the depictions of survival the characters did in the film. Men will do anything to escape to freedom, and the determination and spirit to survive in a harsh and unforgiving natural world, is what Weir and his script is trying to say, but the walking parts are written in masterful detail that any line of dialog may ruin it, so silence is sometimes golden in these parts. The screenplay also challenges the usual Hollywood clichés that usually are found in this film genre, and it transforms them into better, more realistic and sometimes unsettling situations.

Production-wise, the film is a triumph. The production design is great and makes extremely well use of real locations. The cinematography by Russell Boyd is dazzling, simply marvelous, it is wide, sweeping and epic, with lush scenery of forests, deserts and the snow-peaked Himalayas exquisitely shot throughout. The wide cinematography makes the experience even more harrowing thanks to Lee Smith's fluid and crisp editing and Burkhard Dallwitz's great music score and terrific music timing - Dallwitz and Weir know when and how music/sound can be used in a scene, and that sometimes, silence is crucial to certain moments. Here, Weir uses that silence to terrific and very intense effect, and with his extremely focused direction, manages to being out a very exhilarating and at the same time excruciating (in a good way) experience. So much so that I forgot about the controversy surrounding the "true story" and found myself hugely engrossed in the movie, not wanting it to end.

In short, the film lightly suffers from lack of proper characterization, but is heavy on almost everything else - acting, directing, cinematography, production value and music. If it had proper characterization, it would have been an instant classic and a contender for the Best Picture Oscar. Still, as it stands, "The Way Back" is still an epic adventure; an inspiring, sometimes funny, and often intense and harrowing experience that also proves that Peter Weir is still an ambitious tour-de-force filmmaker.

Overall rating: 77/100