Based on a true story on which a book has been written, The Way Back, is the story of a few mad men (that’s the only way I can describe them) who would have rather died free in the cold of Siberia than in a prison camp where they were being held. Not many (in fact I cant think of any) movies have been made on the not so fair calls taken by Stalin in the build up to the World War. Maybe it would be fair to say that Josep found himself on the right side of Roosevelt. The book used for the screenplay was called The Long Walk (you bet it was long!!!! – 4000 miles long!!!) by Sławomir Rawicz. But no one said that when you make a movie from a book with the word Long in the title, you have the right to get the movie to associate with the same adjective. Director Peter Weir (Truman Show, Master and Commander) seems to have got it wrong this time around with clichés such as unnecessary long shots of 6 people walking down the desert and arid plains of Mongolia or with his complete lack of continuity between several shots. Unless of course the print that was sent across to India wasn’t the final cut.
Nevertheless, getting on with it. The Way Back is the story of 8 people who are locked up by Stalin in a prison camp in Siberia. Its around 1939 and Hitler has occupied one part of Poland and Stalin the other. The Polish are however stuck right in the middle and are obviously not too pleased with it. This is when Janusz (Jim Sturgess) gets imprisoned for anti Stalin activities. Here he meets an American who has gone as cold as the weather in Siberia and goes by the name of Smith (Ed Harris) and a first name of Mister. He also gets acquainted with five other men – Valka (Colin Farrell) a hardened Russian Criminal, Tomasz (Alexandru Potocean) an artist who survives at the camp by making erotic sketches, Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky) a young boy who suffers from night blindness, Voss (Gustaf Skarsgård) a Latvian Priest and Zoran (Dragos Bucur) an accountant from the erstwhile Yugoslavia. And then there is an actor, Khabarov (Mark Strong) whose only way of surviving in the madness of the prison is to weave fantasies about how it is possible to escape from the camp. But then he meets Janusz who takes the concept too seriously and when he finds an opportunity, the 8 of them decide to take advantage of a blizzard to escape. And so begins the long long walk which they plan to take from Siberia to Mongolia. Along the way, they also pick up Irena (Saoirse Ronan) who claims to have run away from another camp after her parents were murdered by Russians.
The Way Back is an extremely poignant and slow tale of how 9 human beings challenge their limits and walk through Siberia, along Lake Baikal onto the plains of Russia, Mongolia, Tibet and eventually into India. Most of the scenes are of course not shot on location with Bulgaria and Morocco taking up most of the shooting with a small portion towards the end being shot in India. Not that I am taking away any points from the team for choice of location but most of the build up didn’t seem to be finished too well. For e.g., towards the end of the movie, the accents start dropping distinctly and most of the actors of different nationalities start moving towards their natural accents. I was also surprised to learn that the movie had been nominated for an Oscar for Make Up. It was good alright but good enough for an Oscar nomination? Debatable. Or maybe I need to really take that movie appreciation course that I have been putting off for a long long time. The performances by most of the cast are however quite strong with Ed Harris leading the way as the reserved Mr. Smith. Saoirse (pronounced Seer Sha) Ronan stands out again and she is only helped along the way by being the only woman in the group of nine. On the whole, you can watch it if you are fine with watching an extremely slow tear jerker. I give this 6 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1465030937/
Nevertheless, getting on with it. The Way Back is the story of 8 people who are locked up by Stalin in a prison camp in Siberia. Its around 1939 and Hitler has occupied one part of Poland and Stalin the other. The Polish are however stuck right in the middle and are obviously not too pleased with it. This is when Janusz (Jim Sturgess) gets imprisoned for anti Stalin activities. Here he meets an American who has gone as cold as the weather in Siberia and goes by the name of Smith (Ed Harris) and a first name of Mister. He also gets acquainted with five other men – Valka (Colin Farrell) a hardened Russian Criminal, Tomasz (Alexandru Potocean) an artist who survives at the camp by making erotic sketches, Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky) a young boy who suffers from night blindness, Voss (Gustaf Skarsgård) a Latvian Priest and Zoran (Dragos Bucur) an accountant from the erstwhile Yugoslavia. And then there is an actor, Khabarov (Mark Strong) whose only way of surviving in the madness of the prison is to weave fantasies about how it is possible to escape from the camp. But then he meets Janusz who takes the concept too seriously and when he finds an opportunity, the 8 of them decide to take advantage of a blizzard to escape. And so begins the long long walk which they plan to take from Siberia to Mongolia. Along the way, they also pick up Irena (Saoirse Ronan) who claims to have run away from another camp after her parents were murdered by Russians.
The Way Back is an extremely poignant and slow tale of how 9 human beings challenge their limits and walk through Siberia, along Lake Baikal onto the plains of Russia, Mongolia, Tibet and eventually into India. Most of the scenes are of course not shot on location with Bulgaria and Morocco taking up most of the shooting with a small portion towards the end being shot in India. Not that I am taking away any points from the team for choice of location but most of the build up didn’t seem to be finished too well. For e.g., towards the end of the movie, the accents start dropping distinctly and most of the actors of different nationalities start moving towards their natural accents. I was also surprised to learn that the movie had been nominated for an Oscar for Make Up. It was good alright but good enough for an Oscar nomination? Debatable. Or maybe I need to really take that movie appreciation course that I have been putting off for a long long time. The performances by most of the cast are however quite strong with Ed Harris leading the way as the reserved Mr. Smith. Saoirse (pronounced Seer Sha) Ronan stands out again and she is only helped along the way by being the only woman in the group of nine. On the whole, you can watch it if you are fine with watching an extremely slow tear jerker. I give this 6 on 10.
Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1465030937/
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