The Way Back

We saw this at the Orpheum last night followed by a Q&A with Peter Weir and the Cinematographer Russell Boyd, another Australian who has collaborated with Peter on a number of films, including Hanging Rock and Gallipoli.

The Way Back is an epic tale of escape and survival. It is inspired by Slavomir Rawicz’s book The Long Walk, the story of a group of prisoners that escape a Soviet gulag and walk for more than 4,000 miles from Siberia to freedom in India. The walk takes place during the second world war, over some of the most remote and inhospitable terrain on earth.

A story this remarkable should be worthy of our attention in its own right and Weir has quite rightly resisted the temptation to up the suspense by adding the type of artificial element that you may have seen in a lesser film. There is no real pursuit of the escapees, there is very little tension between them and apart from the obviously horrific deprivations of such a long and remote trek, they encounter very few obstacles or dangers along the way. For this reason, the film may be seen as overly long and dull by many and will probably not enjoy the critical or public acclaim that it deserves.

Those that have the patience for it will be rewarded by magnificent scenery, expertly captured by Mr Boyd and fine performances from Ed Harris, Dragoc Bucur and particularly Colin Farrell as the animalistic Valka, the only real criminal in the group – all the other were political prisoners. Another excellent feature is the haunting and dramatic score by Melbourne composer Burkhard Dallwitz. Disappointingly the film’s only Oscar nomination is for make-up, which did a great job of portraying the ravaging effects of the elements on the faces of the walkers.

The stories of the gulag survivors, and indeed of the horrors of the Communist era, have not had a great deal of exposure in main stream cinema. In that regard this is a very welcome and original addition. Ultimately the film is a metaphor of the long way back to freedom and normality for Russia and the former Soviet States.

Last night’s screening was attended by a number of gulag survivors and their families, mostly from Poland.