A true story starring Jim Sturgess (21), Ed Harris (The Abyss, Apollo 13), and Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Miami Vice, Minority Report) taking place in a Siberian Gulag during World War 2. After being sent to the prison camp in wintery, desolate Siberia, a group of prisoners make their way out of captivity into a whole new dangerous world filled with blizzards, never-ending forests, and a terrain void of food. Picking up a poor homeless girl along the way, the struggle for survival intensifies as they attempt to evade capture, find food, and push each other forward to safety. In the attempt to escape the Communist Bloc, they head south trying to get to China, only to find that the Chinese were under a Commie Regime as well. Next stop….. India.
Peter Weir (Master & Commander) directs the incredible story of survival, The Way Back shows what men are truly capable of when pushed to the limit. The escape through Russia, Mongolia, Tibet and then India was eye-catching to say the least. National Geographic backed this film and their expertise at finding great shots of landscapes and nature SHINES through. Extremes of hot and cold along with epic landscapes added to the story to really give the viewer a sense of what these men were going through.
Elementary Grading Scale: Exceeding Expectations
1-10: 7.5
There are exhilarating moments, and there are some undeniably tense scenes. Mixed in, however, is possibly more trudging than you're going to see in any other film.
ReplyDelete