The Way Back

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How far can the human spirit take you? After being imprisoned my communists in the Siberian gulag during WWII, a group escapes and begins the long journey to freedom. This is another difficult movie to review for me. It's a true story and pretty powerful, but also very slow moving I thought. The acting is excellent, Colin Farrell is really, really good in this. The story is powerful and inspiring, but it is hard to get into. This is in no way a bad movie, but to me it was not as good as I was hoping. Many will really enjoy this, as I did, but I felt it was missing something to make it great. I just can't tell you what it was. Powerful and inspiring, just slow. I give it a B- Would I watch again? - I don't think so

The Way Back is a drama about a group of prisoners and a teenage girl seeking to escape the reach of the communists in 1941. Loosely based on a true story, the movie follows the group from their escape from a Soviet gulag in Siberia, through the Gobi Desert and across the Himalayas...all on foot. It's was an incredibly perilous journey, and many of the characters do not make it to the end. Hunger, exposure, exhaustion, and dehydration were the almost constant companions of the group, and they took their toll. The great cast (including Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan, and Mark Strong) really makes you care about the slowly bonding group as they travel mile after mile through harsh conditions and dangerous environments. The Way Back may not have the thrills of an action blockbuster, but it kept my interest throughout. A good movie about a very interesting subject.

just to contra the previous review: "21" wasn't a "flop" at all! it was a brilliant movie and Jim Sturgess himself was brilliant in it. so there is no need for him to "redeem" himself.. Jim Sturgess is a great actor, which is evident AGAIN in "The Way Back". From an ordinary spectator's POV (which are the majority of cinema goers), The Way Back was a thoroughly enjoyable film. All actors portrait their character truthfully and realistically. Colin Farrell never disappoints. I've noticed that some scenes appeared a bit shortened, probably due to the total length of the film. However, it wasn't as severe that the plot suffered. Some characters seemed to be more developed than others; I personally would have liked "the funny one" of the group to be more funny e.g. Over all a very intelligent and sophisticated production and emotionally satisfying.

It is amazing that this group of people walked so far, first through Siberia during winter, then the Gobi desert, and finally the Himalayas. And the things they had to eat and drink along the way to survive like muddy water. I felt the part about crossing the Himalayas was rushed at the end. The movie spent so much time showing their travels in Siberia and the desert, but so little time showing how they crossed the Himalayas. It would seem to me that crossing the Himalayas would've been the most difficult part. This movie could've easily been stretched out to 2.5 hours. The movie claims to be inspired by real events, but there seems to be questions about whether the book it was based on was accurate. Also, the cover photo for this movie shows Colin Farrel with the desert in the background. Ahh ... this is extremely misleading because (**SPOILER**) his character was only in the first half of the movie and never actually made it to the desert.