Review of The Way Back (2010) by Amheretojudge — 29 Oct 2019

Mountains and forests and deserts and war, everything is surpassed victoriously, except for the building that we call, "home".

The Way Back Peter Weir, the co-writer and director fails to novelize the idea of seeking and losing. There areMountains and forests and deserts and war, everything is surpassed victoriously, except for the building that we call, "home".

The Way Back.

Peter Weir, the co-writer and director fails to novelize the idea of seeking and losing. There are hints in the film where you can see him finally getting the right message communicated to you, the audience. But these glimpses come in rare. You are asked to earn them just as those characters earn drops of water amidst hot dry desert drowning them on their own decisions. But I would argue that those are improvisational and not actually the crux behind the scene. That- the notion that tells you that you are present in that moment, among these brave men- scene doesn't seem to be the motif.

And I could be wrong and presumptuous in this note but then there is never anything, any final result that amounts all those speculative innuendos or emotional delights to something. Anything. I would take anything. What it has in its mind as the big finale- and I don't mean just the film's climax but each last scene of the acts throughout the film- has nothing to do with the journey that we embark upon. And that is that there is no real reason for them to expect us to care for these moments that they are building towards.

If you are about to snatch away something from the viewers or are about to gift them with something they desire, you'd have to at least make us inseparable from that element or yearn for those treats like a child. The film lacks romance between it and us. For the romance between the characters is easily communicating with us through brilliant performances especially by Colin Ferrell, Saoirse Ronan and Ed Harris. Colin oozes a threateningly irrational vibes making us speculative towards his character. Saoirse and Ed makes you go back with a soothing and satisfyingly empty heart in The Way Back.