The Way Back
Screen Rant ’s Paul Young ReviewsThe Way Back
I do n’t like to walk 200 FEET to get the mail everyday , so I have a tremendous amount of obedience for anyone who can make a 4,000 MILE trek across an entire continent . That is exactly what a mathematical group of determined escapees essay to do inThe room Backas they make the perilous journey from Siberia to India to gain their exemption .
The Way Backis broadly revolutionize by the bookThe Long Walkby Slawomir Rawicz , who lay claim to be one of the three men that survived the trip - though theBBC unveil grounds to the contraryshortly after his book was release . Regardless of what is dependable or untrue , The Way Backis a compelling tarradiddle with filled strong characters , believable scenarios and beautiful storytelling .
The story start in 1939 with Janusz ( Jim Sturgess ) , a Polish police officer being interrogated by a Russian officeholder who is impeach him of being a traitor and a undercover agent – something Janusz vehemently denies . alas , if the Communist Russian regime need you in jail then you WILL terminate up in clink . To show this point , they excruciate Janusz ’s wife for a put on confession and then transport him off to a Gulag deep in the frozen Siberian tundra .
Once there , Janusz is tossed into a world fill up with violence , mistreatment and deplorable living conditions . The men he lives with admit role player , foreigners and murderers , and he soon expose who he can and can not trust . Janusz becomes close-fitting with an actor , Khabarov ( Mark Strong ) , whose crime was starring in a photographic film that the Russian administration deemed unfaithful . Khabarov claim to get it on a way out of the camp and together the two architectural plan their outflow . Along the elbow room Janusz makes allies with several other prisoner – the American , Mr. Smith ( Ed Harris ) , Zoran ( Dragos Bucur ) , Kazik ( Sebastian Urzendowsky ) , Tamasz ( Alexandru Potocean ) , Voss ( Gustaf Skarsgård ) and the homicidal Valka ( Colin Farrell ) .
The escape prospect is actually very inadequate and go through more of how they pulled it off would have been interesting ; ultimately , all we get to see is a generator cease working then the guys in the woods running from dogs and soldiers . I infer why director Peter Weir shortened this part of the story , though , because the film is about the journey , not the escape .
With very small solid food , no water , one tongue , some flint and only the tattered clothes on their backs , the group courageously endures the harshest weather known to serviceman – but at least they ’re gratuitous . As they boost in the south towards the Trans - Siberian railroad in an attack to enter Mongolia ( where they call back Communism does n’t live ) , the men must ward off all villages for awe of being turn in to the dominance . Along the style they meet a young teenaged Polish girl , Irena ( Saoirse Ronan ) , who link up them in their travel . There are some really touching fit between each of the actor and Irena as she becomes the gum that holds them together , doing what none of them had done before they met her – charter in conversation . Over the class of the next hour , we keep an eye on the radical as they survive a mixture of angry encounters from Hugo Wolf , wintry temperatures , a lack of food and a mosquito plague .
It ’s not a short trip by any means as the group walk for calendar week and then months . When they hand the Mongolia - Russian margin , they realize in horror that another thousand or more miles lie in front of them . This part will be the sturdy as they thwart hundreds of Admiralty mile of desert and then trek through the Himalayan Mountains .
Weir has done a fantastic job allowing the consultation to connect with the character . I go through the same ploy of emotions the men did as debilitation rick to high spirits , then to sorrow , then to despair , and finally easing . The last thirty minutes of the movie are the most hefty and are full of emotion as the rough surroundings finally begins to take its toll . The last view of the film had tears in my eyes as Weir impart all those emotions the characters and audience had experienced together on this larger-than-life journey full circle .
Peter Weir has n’t directed a pic since his epic sea - ground movieMaster and Commander : The Far Side of the World , but you would n’t know it by watchingThe Way Back . While the 133 - minute run meter feels a tad long and the motion-picture show seems to drag for a turn around the halfway mark , Weir has still make do to craft a history that is grotesque , tragic , interesting , move , inspirational and heart - warming - all at once .
If you require to watch a plastic film filled with action , clowning or romance , then this is not the motion picture for you . But if a compelling chronicle occupy with character just trying to survive over-the-top circumstance sounds interesting , then you should definitely watchThe fashion Back .
Check out the trailer forThe Way Back :
