Review of The Way Back (2010) by Spangle — 18 Apr 2017

Peter Weir's The Way Back is just the legendary Australian directors second film in the 21st Century and, like the rest of his work, it highlights his ability to make his films as slow as they are dramatic. In the case of The Way Back, it is certainly slow. This slow pace really does hold it back as, though it allows Weir to show the pace at which the journey of the protagonist occurs, it does not make it overly watchable. This was one where I was undoubtedly mentally clawing for my phone and wondering what else I could think about. It was that slow. That said, it is certainly an epic journey with incredible visuals as Weir wrings drama out of their situation in an epic tale of survival and forgiveness that may get too schmaltzy at the end for my tastes, but is certainly an interesting WWII film nonetheless.

Depicting the journey from the gulag in Siberia to India undertaken by a group of Soviet prisoners and a girl who they meet along the way, The Way Back is a true story of epic proportions. The main players here are Janusz (Jim Sturgess), Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), Irena (Saoirse Ronan), and Valka (Colin Farrell). Convicted as a spy after his wife stated he was a spy and tortured as a result of her husband's unwillingness to sign a sworn statement affirming this, Janusz is a man who must forgive himself for putting his wife in that position. Mr. Smith is an American who moved to Russia and must now forgive himself for doing so, as it cost the life of his son. Irena is a girl who is all alone after her Polish parents became communists and were still arrested, leaving her and her brother in an orphanage, from which she ran away. Finally, Valka is a criminal who is escaping a debt in the prison that would see him beheaded, but is a Russian to the core. These four people, along with a few other interchangeable people, intend to travel from Russia to India, passing through Mongolia, Tibet, and the Himalayas, in the process. A harrowing journey, it is one that will test every resolve they have.

While the human core should be the focus of the film, it is only really the case for a few characters in the film with the remaining escapees relegated to obscurity. The film develops its main characters very nicely, but refuses to do the same for their fellow travelers. People die in this journey, yet are still hardly memorable. The faces and names fall into the back of your mind as the film operates like Survivor as it dwindles down the people who you will forget about anyways and focus in on those you actually care about at the end. Considering these are real people, it is unfortunate to see men who went through the exact same journey get relegated to bit players just because it was not their initial idea to escape or because they did not have somebody left behind in their lives that they had to forgive. This somewhat lends itself to the overly schmaltzy ending in which we see that forgiveness take place for the main characters. It is overly sentimental and seems to lose sight of what made the film work so well beforehand: its emphasis on survival.

It is this emphasis that really makes the film work as we see the desperation, the need for water, and the need for food overcome everybody. As they enter Mongolia, we see their horror when they realize just how much further they have to go to get to safety. Yes, they are out of Russia, but their journey is just beginning. It is a mentally taxing journey that, when it seems over, it is never over. Weir does an excellent job capturing this emotional strain, exemplified by when they actually do reach India. Until then, the journey was arduous and full of moments where it seemed to be over only to pick back up again, that Weir is able to make this moment seem surreal. How can it be over? Are they actually safe? Weir, up to the end of this film, had succeeded in making this journey seem so unending that when it finally ends, it feels like it is just beginning again.

Arming the film with excellent cinematography that captures the beauty of the terrain that they walk from extreme cold to extreme heat, The Way Back is a beautifully shot. Blending this nicely with the horrors on display as these escapees try to go from Russia to India on foot, the film is packed with tension as we see them all struggle to survive. Yet, the film's characters are extremely lacking for those the film does not consider important enough to develop. That said, the few it does develop provide enough of an emotional core to latch onto, even if the film is absolutely terrifyingly slow.