The_Way_Back_Movie_Review

Review by reelingreviews

During WWII, Janusz (Jim Sturgess, “Across the Universe,” “21″) is sent to a Siberian Gulag after his wife was forced to give evidence against him.  With little but the elements to imprison him, Janusz makes plans with terse American Mr. Smith (Ed Harris, “Gone Baby Gone,” “Appaloosa”), Russian street thug Valka (Colin Farrell, “In Bruges,” “Crazy Heart”) and a diverse handful of others to make a break to find “The Way Back.”

There’s been a small surge of filmmakers returning after a long hiatus of late and Australian director Peter Weir (“Witness,” “The Truman Show”), whose last film was 2003′s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” is the latest.  “The Way Back,” which was screened for 2010 Oscar qualification, is a WWII true story underdog, like 2009′s “Defiance” which also starred Harris, but a whole lot better.  This is the type of war torn survival film that doesn’t sound like it has anything new to offer, but Weir gives the film a gradual emotional build amidst radically changing landscapes. Sturgess is compiling quite an eclectic filmography and young Saorise Ronan gives an effecting performance as a surrogate daughter to the initially unyielding Harris.

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Review By dailymail

Though hardly famed for his ­light touch or mischievous sense of humour, veteran Australian ­director Peter Weir has earned a reputation for big, ­cinematic movies.

His outstanding achievements are probably Witness (1985) and ­Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World (2003), but Picnic At ­Hanging Rock, Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show all have their admirers.

Review by thisislondon

It doesn’t matter whether Slavomir Rawicz’s The Long Walk, published in 1956, was fact or fiction. It doesn’t make Peter Weir’s film about his daring escape from a Russian gulag and subsequent 4,500-mile journey to India any less powerful a story. It’s the Australian director’s first feature since Master and Commander in 2003 and he knows how to craft this kind of thing better than most.

Set in 1940, The Way Back has seven prisoners escaping from the gulag and three surviving after a trek across the world’s harshest terrain.