Director: Peter Weir
Cast: Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan
Running Time: 133 mins
The Way Back is a movie ripe with potential. It has a stellar cast who are individually renowned for their powerful performances; it has six time Academy Award nominated Australian director Peter Weir at its helm and it has an inspiring and unique true story about the strength of five men and one woman when faced with brutality and adversity in the harshest conditions on Earth. Still with all this potential the film still does not achieve anything closer to what it could have if more emphasis had been placed on the people inside the story rather than the bipolar environments that act as picturesque backdrops to their struggles.
Based on the true story and subsequent novel (The Long Walk) by Polish POW Slawomir Rawicz, set in the early years of World War 2 the film follows the escape of six POWs from a Soviet Gulag in Serbia and their 4000 mile (6,437 kilometer) walk to freedom in India. Lead by Polish POW Janusz (Sturgess), a character based on the books author, and an American inmate Mr. Smith (Harris), the escapees cross the freezing Serbian wilderness, the dehydrating Gobi desert and the mountainous Himalayas as they learn to trust one another in order to survive.
Russell Boyd’s (Master and Commander) cinematography is nothing short of marvelous, providing some of the most beautiful shots of the vastly different settings. Although, Weir’s overemphasis of these landscapes detracts from the greater story that is driving each of these characters forward. The moments when we are allowed to see the oppressive impact of the Soviet occupation on the individual characters are rather engaging but are very short lived. The majority of the 2 hours and 13 minutes is spent establishing aerial shots of the various locations followed by uninteresting discussions about the environment or overly dramatic pit stops to burry the dead.
The cast perform well given the material, most notably Farrell whose fluency in Russian is not only astounding but a true indication of his high level of commitment as an actor. But due to the little time given to developing each character’s backstory the audience is never given a chance or real reason to invest in them and their journey.
The Way Back could have been one of this years most well crafted and inspiring films but fails due to the lack of importance placed on developing any emotional connection between the characters and the audience outside of the grueling journey they are on. This film leaves you feeling like you have watched a rather drawn out National Geographic special instead of what should have been the inspiring true story of six people’s long walk to freedom.
I wrote this review for the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) student magazine Vertigo for their 2011 first issue. It looked much better published so check out the link below for a virtual copy. It isn’t a bad read either, especially if you are interested or curious about Vajazzling (something which isn’t related or appropriate for discussion on this blog).
The Film Dissection 