The Way Back

The story of a small group of people escaping from a Siberian Soviet prison, part of the "Gulag" in wartime and walking 4000 miles to freedom looked a trifle grim in the trailer, but Peter Weir has managed to produce a rather beautiful film out of it, using Bulgaria and Morocco as locales rather than Siberia and the Gobi desert. Only Darjeeling in India plays itself. My only trouble with it is the rather uneven character development. The story lends itself to ensemble playing but we learn little about two or three of the walkers. In the case of the lead character Janusz (Jim Sturgess) who is the source of the story this is explicable as we are seeing the others though his eyes, but it has to be said that both "Mr Smith" (the excellent Ed Harris) and the Girl (Saiorse Ronan) leave a lasting impression.

I know there is some doubt as to the authenticity of the story, taken from a 1955 book by Slavimir Rawicz a former Polish army officer, and indeed what the group are supposed to have done looks impossible but that's not a problem, because the relationships ring true. It is remarkable how an almost random collection of individuals, including one with a very unsavoury past, can, driven by sheer necessity, wind up functioning as a team. Partly this is due to the leader actually having some navigational knowledge and therefore inspiring confidence in the others. Mr Smith remarks early on that the Janusz has a serious weakness; he is kind, but when the chips are down we see that even the hard-bitten Mr Smith is capable of compassion.

Strangely enough, after the initial scenes in the prison camp, and the escape, there is not a lot of drama. The group encounter very few people on their travels and those they do meet take little interest in them (perhaps they had not heard about the bounty for escapees). Obtaining food and water is obviously a big issue, so mind out for the messy hunting scenes. I was astounded at how well their footwear stood up to the punishment; my hiking boots are not good for 400 miles let alone 4000. Actually they must have wandered around a bit - the northern end of Lake Baikal and Lhasa in Tibet are about 1800 miles apart, though the prison camp was somewhere north of the lake. It's also not clear how long the walk took, but at times it seemed like years. Weir's great achievement is to keep us watching a very drawn out tale. Personally I think I would have died of boredom if I had been in this particular walk, if starvation hadn't got me first.

Having read several books about escapes from Siberia, I was interested in seeing one of them put on screen. I say this because the film is a bit slow in a number of parts so it helps to have a great interest in the subject matter. The film isn't boring - at least, to me - but I can see some people seeing it that way, especially if you're used to today's action movies.

The scenery is magnificent and some of the shots by director Peter Weir are jaw-dropping. This is Weir's first film since the 2003 "Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World." The man does quality work.

Ed Harris one of the few, if not only, actors in here whose English you can clearly understand, so it's a good idea to play this DVD with subtitles. You get a fair of amount of subtitles with the Russian characters, anyway, but none are distracting from the scenery or story. The characters and acting in here are good, too.

If this subject matter interests you, find the book, "As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me," about a one-man escape from a Siberian Labor Camp following WWII.

I think it's always difficult to portray hardship and endurance in films purely because you only experience it for a couple of hours or so. This had me understanding the terrible conditions for real....i think. The search for water in the Gobi desert had me thinking twice about attempting the same thing as a holiday. Make up was fantastic and the bleakness of the scenery was soo beautiful

This is a wonderful film that is completely unpretentious, has no explosions, maltreated corpses or dramatic emotional outbursts, but a stringent and focused narrative, good camera work and above all great actors, all together as an ensemble. And even though we know that Ed Harris and Colin Farrell are always worth their money, especially Farrell as a Russian criminal is an absolute highlight. How he goes from being brutal, then self-doubting to a social being is very well directed by Peter Weir, but played by Farrell in a truly stunning way. Halfway through the film, a fresh, new color comes into play with Saoirse Ronan. Weir builds up the story well, maybe the hike through the Himalayas is a little too short, but at that point we already understood what drives the small troop of survivalists. A true gem.

Peter Weir's first film in seven years is another exercise in sturdy direction with strong social themes running through it - recalling many of his previous works in style and content. It follows a group of escaped prisoners from a Siberian gulag in 1940 as they brave the treacherous wilderness of Asia for freedom from the Soviet regime. It's tough viewing for the most part but there is a surprising amount of comic relief along the way, provided chiefly by Colin Farrell's salty character. The group scavenge for food, even fighting off wolves for the carcass of an animal at one point - but the constant bickering and relentless doom and gloom does begin to wear. The film picks up however once Saoirse Ronan enters the picture and her youthful feminine presence brings an interesting dynamic. Emoting with a flawless Polish accent (almost like a mini-Streep) her character is one of the more compelling and layered and gives this emerging young actress a chance to display her skills. The cinematography is serviceable but hardly spectacular - capturing a harsh, arid landscape as opposed to Malick-like celebration of nature.

As the film wears on, the struggle to survive intensifies, particular when they reach the Ghobi desert - the scenes are very well done but viewing becomes quite grueling. Harris bring a certain integrity to his role in a rather unshowy performance with not much character introspection (I can see why his Oscar buzz has disappeared). In fact character development across the board is quite lacking, and watching the plot unfold, with the knowledge of the outcome of the story already provided in the opening titles - the narrative becomes quite arbitrary and the story doesn't always sustain interest. The final leg of the journey through the Himalayas almost seems rushed compared to the bloated second act. Still, it's a very well-made film with good acting and visuals - just don't expect to be inspired.