The Way Back - The Long Walk

For eight years, acclaimed director Peter Weir (The Truman Show, Dead Poets Society) took a break after the success of Master & Commander. But now the six-time Oscar-nominated Australian makes an impressive return with the epic The Way Back - The Long Walk, based on a true story.

In 1940, young Pole Janusz (Jim Sturgess) and six other prisoners in a Soviet prison camp make a risky decision: the men will escape and venture the perilous journey across Siberia to freedom. The quiet American Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), the brutal Russian Valka (Colin Farrell), the humorous Yugoslavian Zoran (Dragos Bucur), the Latvian Voss (Gustav Skarsgard) and the two Poles Tamasz (Alexandru Potocean) and Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky) actually manage to escape from the murderous gulag with Janusz. But the barren landscape and merciless cold soon show why hardly anyone has dared to escape so far, let alone survive. But with iron will and a little luck, the men manage to reach Mongolia - unaware that the long road to freedom has just begun.

Based on the bestseller by Slavomir Rawicz and quite a few eyewitness accounts and narratives that Weir and his producer collected during the intensive research work, the director has created a visually stunning drama that presents acting at a very high level embedded in an extremely powerful visual language. The protagonists' year-long journey of over 10,000 kilometres was filmed in Bulgaria, Morocco and India. Thanks to the magnificent camerawork and the authentic equipment, the cold, heat, hunger, thirst and desperation become almost tangible for the viewer. This may not make The Way Back - Der lange Weg relaxing entertainment cinema. But this survival drama is an intense film experience.

Although the entire ensemble of actors deserves the highest praise here, some performances stand out clearly. Colin Farrell, for instance, delivers an extremely intense performance as the unpredictable and extremely violent Valka that really gets under your skin at moments. Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe, Heartless) is the total antithesis to Farrell's Valka as the good-natured Janusz, making it clear once again why his big break is long overdue.

The Way Back - The Long Way is tough fare, a film that touches and sometimes even hurts. But those who get into it will be rewarded with another directorial masterpiece by Peter Weir, a stirring story, great acting performances and magnificent images. Highly recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp