You like grandiose images and unbelievable stories that are also based on facts? Then Netflix has the right film in its repertoire for you. The adventure “The Way Back” is available on the streaming service.
Peter Weir is undoubtedly one of the most interesting directors around. This is not only due to his versatility, which he has repeatedly demonstrated with the media tragicomedy “The Truman Show”, the undercover thriller “The Only Witness” or the seafaring epic “Master And Commander”. The Australian filmmaker also has a knack for grandiose images and big emotions, without ever operating in a gimmicky or heavy-handed way. Instead, Peter Weir believes in the power of cinema and brings it to life again and again with every work he makes.
His last directorial effort to date, the 2010 adventure “The Way Back – The Long Walk”, is currently available on Netflix’s subscription service. And even if the film ultimately does not reach the class of previous Peter Weir works, he is responsible for a thoroughly visually stunning viewing experience with a top-class cast including Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan and Jim Sturgess, which is also based on true events.
THAT’S WHAT “THE WAY BACK “
IS ABOUT.
Poland in 1940: In the Soviet-occupied part of the country, Polish cavalry officer Janusz (Jim Sturgess) is accused of making negative remarks about the USSR and its leader Josef Stalin. As punishment, he is banished to a Siberian prison camp for 20 years. There he meets political rebels and criminals who exercise a reign of violence under the eyes of the guards in the camp. With the actor Khabrov (Mark Strong), Janusz decides to leave the camp and head south across the Soviet-Mongolian border.
He hears from the American Smith (Ed Harris) that Khabarov is an impostor. But the young Pole does not give up. Together with the brutal gangster Valka (Colin Farrell), Janusz and Smith break out. Also in the group: the Yugoslavian accountant Zoran (Dragos Bucur), the artist Tomasz (Alexandru Potocean), the 17-year-old Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky) and the Latvian priest Voss (Gustaf Skarsgard). On their dangerous journey through deserts, steppes and forests, they soon meet the young Polish woman Irena (Saoirse Ronan)…
AN ESCAPE OVER 6,500 KILOMETRES
Peter Weir has here taken on the memoirs of Polish Gulag inmate Slavomir Rawicz, published in this country under the title “The Long Walk: My Escape from the Gulag”. It describes in detail how Rawicz once managed to travel over 6,5000 kilometres from Siberia to India as part of an unequal community of fate. The adaptation has become an adventure that is not only cinema through and through, but also foregrounds one of Peter Weir’s leitmotifs: the irrepressible urge for freedom.
The official FILMSTARTS review gave “The Way Back” a very good 3.5 out of 5 possible stars. Our author Jan Görner writes: “‘The Way Back’ tells a deeply humanistic story of an unconditional will for freedom. In this way, the film is in the tradition of Weir greats like ‘The Truman Show’ or ‘Dead Poets Society’. “
The fact that “The Way Back” is gripping from the very first minute is first of all thanks to Weir’s regular cameraman Russell Boyd, who knows how to capture the beauty and danger of nature in impressive images. Right at the beginning it is made clear, visually alone, that the real problem is not the borders of the Gulag, but the 13 (!) million square kilometres of Siberian ruthlessness stretching in all directions. Moreover, it is not a question of whether the fugitives are persecuted. The focus is strictly on the protagonists.
Although “The Way Back” often features depressing passages that focus on the suffering of the group – such as the appalling hunger – the film is ultimately an optimistic and life-affirming one. Weir relies not only on the grandiose images but also, in the best sense of the word, on his great actors and actresses: “He tells the story of seven people who look into the never-ending expanse of the Siberian taiga and all see something different. Each of the characters has his or her own legitimate perspective, his or her own motivation, and comes to life on screen.
