The Way Back

Tweet

As far back as Picnic at Hanging Rock, director Peter Weir has been interested in using film to create a mood. 

Sometimes this mood connects with a wider story, and sometimes the wider story isn't quite there. 

With The Way Back Weir has certainly found a gripping story to tell...

It's 1940, Stalin's Soviet Union has invaded the parts of Poland Hitler didn't want, and Januz (Jim Sturgess) is shipped off to the Siberian gulag after being betrayed by his (tortured) wife. 

To try and escape is fatal - where is there to escape to in the middle of nowhere? 

But anywhere is better than the living death of the camp and the mines, so he leads a group (including an old American, played by Ed Harris, and a cunning but desperate professional criminal, played by Colin Farrell) that escapes into the frozen wastes. 

A pre-credits title card lets us know that only three men walked into India, but the way the group's numbers are whittled down is occasionally surprising. 

It's not enough to sustain any real narrative drive or compelling drama though, and while the landscapes they trudge through are amazing to look at there is very little sense of being caught up in the men's struggle for survival even when they're on the brink of starvation or dying of thirst. 

It's as if the story either needed to be more about the nuts-and-bolts of survival (how exactly do you walk so far and live?) or more about the characters themselves.

As it stands the film fails to generate sufficient awe at their achievement or enough drama as to whether they're going to make it alive.

These aren't fatal flaws, mind you, and viewed as a travelogue there's much to take in here.

The Way Back just isn't a film that stays with you and with the story it's telling it really should.

DVD Special Features

Not a great deal of extras on offer aside from a Trailer and a fairly sub-standard Behind the Scenes Featurette.

But what can you expect from a film that only managed to make $7M worldwide.

Conclusion - Movie: 50% Extras: 40%