There are two major problems with director Peter Weir‘s “The Way Back,” a film “inspired” by the incredible story of seven prisoners who escape from a Soviet gulag circa 1940 only to discover that 4500 miles of hostile terrain lies between them and freedom. The first problem is that the story feels like one big anachronism. We’re twenty-plus years past the Cold War and, in the form of Islamic terrorism, facing an entirely new and different kind of evil. The point of telling this story decades after it might have actually done some good for the millions who died in these Siberian death camps is never made clear. Sure, even today, Hollywood keeps pumping out big-budget films set during WWII, but many of those don’t lose their sense of urgency due to a thematic drive that doesn’t grow old: the fight against evil and/or the price of freedom. Which brings me to the Weir’s second problem.
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If you’re going to go to all the trouble — for whatever reason — of making a movie exposing the last evil we faced, thematically it should at least speak to the one we’re facing now. “Inglorious Basterds” is a superb example. However, if you’re worried about a sternly-worded letter from C.A.I.R., then what you might do is grab hold of one of those universal themes that make any story work at any time and for anyone. Unfortunately, other than not dying, “The Way Back” has no real theme. This is not a story about a group of men fighting for personal liberty or a cause bigger than themselves, such as exposing the horror of these Gulags. These are men who simply don’t want to die. Survival is their primary motivation for escape and every step taken afterwards.
To be clear, survival is a perfectly acceptable rationale in the real world, but we’re not talking about the real world. We’re talking about the art of storytelling and that requires something more, something bigger for the audience to grab hold of. Ed Harris plays the only American in the group, a man who went to Russia hoping to escape the American Depression and for his troubles ended up in Siberia. But other than the cliche of his loner character learning to care for others, he doesn’t really have any kind of enlightened awakening. The other escapees, distinguished only be Colin Ferrell who overacts a bit as a colorful but vicious Russian gangster, are just as flat in their flattened character arcs.
The cinematography is as gorgeous as the many landscapes that vary from barren deserts to snow-covered mountains, but after 40 minutes or so a kind of repetitiveness creeps into the narrative. They’re hungry, they’re thirsty, they’re freezing, they’re boiling… The only thing that changes is the backdrop. The relationships don’t work very well, either. You never get a sense of a camaraderie or a penetrating sense of emotional loss as Mother Nature puts our protagonists through a harrowing game of Ten Little Indians.
Peter Weir is a terrific director, responsible for Gallipoli, Witness, Mosquito Coast, Master and Commander, and other hits I’m not as fond of (Dead Poets Society, Truman Show), but he just doesn’t seem to have anything he wants to say here. The acting is mostly good, especially the always reliable Harris, and the travelogue aspect top-rate. Unfortunately, the “there” just isn’t there.
For those of you enamored with Blu-ray, the scenery alone makes this well worth a look. The extras, though, are a disappointment. All you get is the trailer and a short, standard issue documentary that looks at the making of the film. A director’s commentary might have actually been better than the film in this case — all those locations and hardships. Another nice addition might’ve been a serious documentary looking into Stalin’s Gulags. But the bones here are pretty bare in both the feature film and the extras.
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