'THE WAY BACK' - archive from 18th March 2011.

I saw 'THE WAY BACK' this week - the true story of a mixed bag of seven POW's who escape from a Siberian Gulag and hot foot it 4,000 miles to freedom across Russia, Mongolia, China, Nepal, Tibet & into India in 1941/2/3. A solid result from occasional Director Peter Weir who also Produced and wrote the Screenplay based on the book 'The Long Walk' by Slawomir Rawicz. Made for US$30M this film struggled to make back US$21M but generally it received positive reviews and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Make-Up, and all up garnered two award wins and five other nominations.

The story kicks off after the Soviet invasion of Poland during WWII where Polish Officer Janusz Wieszczek (Jim Sturgess) is held as a Prisoner of War and interrogated by The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) and is subsequently sentenced to serve twenty years in a Gulag labour camp in deepest, darkest, remotest, bloody cold Siberia.

Once transported and interned into his new home for the next two decades Janusz is introduced to his new living companions with whom he will hatch his plan for escape. This motley crew comprise Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), an American engineer; Khabarov (Mark Strong), an actor; Valka (Colin Farrell), a hardened Russian criminal; Tomasz (Alexandru Potocean), a Polish artist; Voss (Gustaf Skarsgard), a Latvian man of the cloth; Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky), a Pole suffering from night blindness; and Zoran (Dragoş Bucur), a Yugoslavian number cruncher.

Following some planning the crew take their leave under cover of darkness and a snow storm with which their tracks are covered. After a set back or two early on in the piece, en route to Lake Balkal they meet Irena Zielinska (Saoirse Ronan) who spins the men a yarn about Russian soldiers murdering her parents in order to gain favour, and convince the escapees to allow her to join them. Mr. Smith however, pretty quickly wises up to Irene's rouse and cautions her that they will accept no nonsense and as soon ditch her for their own safety and freedom.

From here they continue on to the border between the Soviet Union and Mongolia and then onto Ulan Bator before heading south across the Gobi Desert where they are plagued by diminishing water supplies, sandstorms, blistering heat, sunburn and sunstroke to which Irene ultimately succumbs. As the reduced group continue on their trek for freedom dwindling health drag the remaining group down until a source of water is found to refresh and rehydrate them.

Reaching the Himalayas again on the verge of death, a Tibetan Monk comes to their rescue and leads them to a Buddhist Monastery where they regain their strength and their resolve. From there Mr. Smith goes on alone to Tibet where he can then be smuggled out through China where he can establish contact with US Military authorities and from there back to America.The others continue through the Himalayas and into India.

This is a film of courage over adversity, determination of the human spirit, and unwavering strength and resolve underpinned with fine performances from the principle cast and of course some breathtaking scenery en route! This is worth hunting out now on DVD, BluRay or download especially given that the film is grounded in fact albeit perhaps embellished by poetic license across the years following the long walk. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-