The Way Back
Review
by Anthony Morris
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The Way Back
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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. 2.5 out
of 5
The Way Back
Australian release: 24th February,
2011
Official
Site: The Way Back
Cast: Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell
Director: Peter Weir
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