The Way Back

This story sounds like it was made for the big screen. From a Siberian gulag, a group of prisoners of different nationalities decides to escape. They have hundreds, maybe thousands of miles of inhospitable landscape ahead of them. The icy Siberia, the inhospitable Gobi desert, the colossal peaks of the Himalayas. Ill-equipped, without proper food that would last longer, sick and weakened, they embark on an incredible journey. It is clear that not everyone will survive. In fact, right from the beginning, we know that only three will survive. As the introduction tells us, only three people crossed the mountains and reached freedom. Yes, the story is based on a true event. It is one of those powerful human dramas where an individual accomplished what no one else, who wasn't in such a desperate situation, would ever dare. Not under such conditions. It is magnificent in its smallness. However, Peter Weir (Truman Show or Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World) usually takes his time before making something new, but it is usually worth it. In this case, he didn't completely miss the mark, but I think that the journey of the suffering men and one girl could have been portrayed even more harshly, to convey to the viewer more of the impossibility of the whole pilgrimage, the fact that not everyone will make it, that they all know that someone among them will still die. Like this, there are stunning shots of amazing natural scenery, emotions are played with, but it could have been done in a less melodramatic way and even more humanly. It must be said that there isn't actually that much melodrama. There could have been a lot more. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/08/warrior-x-ms-1-sibir-5x-rychle-zbesile.html (02/25/2013)

Maybe a little watered down, but The Way Back is worth seeing if only for the wonderful landscapes. Top notch acting performances, Colin Farrell rules as the thief Valka and Saoirse Ronan is one of the most talented young actresses right now (and Irena reminds me of someone I know). Weir is usually a great director, but I think that this didn’t come off one hundred percent. But even so, it’s very high above average. And Dallowitz’s music is delightful. That sweater. Did your granny knit it for you? (04/08/2011)

A film of two meaning planes and two faces. The Way Back is about escaping Siberia (surprisingly), a physically devastating journey through Asia, through mountains, deserts and mountains again, to get to freedom. But it also deals, on a symbolic level, with a journey through the history of Central and Eastern Europe, a path to forgiveness. Uh, oh! Like Hollywood's attempts to stage the tragedy of the Holocaust, the first attempt to stage the horrors of the Gulag gives the impression of an explanatory and average staged theatre that aims to make the viewer who is unfamiliar with the facts to understand and feel. For obvious reasons, this trick can only work in an uninspired way and without any depth. In general, however, the further away the heroes are from the traumatic space of the Gulag, the more we learn about them, and the more Weir discusses their individual stories, the better and more cinematically convincing The Way Back is (the highlight is the Mariana scene in the desert, which was the only one in the film that really moved me with the sheer power of cinematic speech). On the other hand, the closer the heroes get to great history, the more constructed the film feels – it is a high school textbook of the crimes of communism for the uninitiated. It takes away a lot of energy and authenticity (unfortunately, this is also related to the very special choice of the dominant language variant and Ed Harris as the story mediator for American audiences). You can get used to it, but the aftertaste of artificial tragedy can't be completely gotten rid of. Like all similar films, this historical trauma is obscured by mandatory sentiment rather than being open to analysis and understanding... It gets points for the excellent (and only truly ambivalent) character of the thief Valek, famously played by Colin Farell. (03/31/2011)

The nonsensically edited first half, which doesn't let a single scene resonate, battles with the beautifully sprawling second half that pushes the limits of the widescreen camera to the limit. This takes points off Weir's film in the final rating despite the fact that he manages to introduce his characters using only a few words and make you like them without dramatizing the scene in any drastic way; he makes do with great actors, a few frostbite marks, and swollen lips from dryness. (10/13/2011)

I have a soft spot for Weir, but he’s off the mark here. Actually, I think that it wasn’t reasonable to even try to make a film like this, paradoxically, for the same (or rather, opposite) reason that made me doubt 127 Hours. Whereas in Boyle’s latest, there wasn’t enough story for a feature film, in The Way Back  there is too much and it feels like a bunch of haphazardly cut sections of the story of a much longer film. I can’t say I had fun, or that I feel like watching the extended (complete) version. After those 133 minutes, I felt almost as exhausted as if I had made that trek, which, as someone who likes comfort, is not something I can appreciate. (04/21/2011)