Doesn't live up to it's potential.

Rating: 6/10 (18 February 2011)

'THE WAY BACK': Three Stars (Out of Five)
Peter Weir directs and co-writes (with Keith R. Clarke) this would be epic about about a group of prison escapees that flee a Siberian gulag camp and embark on a 4000 mile trek to India and freedom during World War II. It's based on the book 'The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom' by Slavomir Rawicz, an actual World War II Polish POW of the Soviet Gulag, and was claimed to be (by him) a fact based account of his escape and miraculous journey to freedom in India. The book has recently been proved false and it was discovered that Rawicz was in fact released from the prison by the USSR. Jim Sturgess stars in the film as Janusz, the character loosely based on Rawicz. The film co-stars Ed Harris, Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronan (of 'THE LOVELY BONES' fame).
The film begins with Janusz being sentenced to 20 years in the gulag, in large part due to his wife being tortured and forced to testify against him. Janusz then makes it his mission to escape the prison and make it home to his wife so he can relieve her of her guilt. He makes friends with several other prisoners, including an American named Mr. Smith (Harris) and a Russian criminal named Valka (Farrell), and together they devise a plan of escape. They wait till one night when a storm is so bad it will cover their tracks and, as a group of seven, they make a run for it. They're later joined on their journey by a young teenage girl (Ronan) who claims to have escaped a collective farm after her parents were murdered. The journey becomes extremely treacherous and of course not everyone makes it through alive.
Peter Weir is a great director (he's directed such well loved films as 'WITNESS', 'THE MOSQUITO COAST', 'THE TRUMAN SHOW', 'DEAD POETS SOCIETY', 'GALLIPOLI' and 'MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD') but here he doesn't quite live up to his reputation. The film looks beautiful, the acting is effective, the music is fitting and the makeup is exceptional (which is nominated for an Oscar). It has all the ingredients of a classic epic war / drama film but it doesn't quite live up to it's potential. The movie is never as sweeping as it should be and the emotion and depth of the characters just isn't there. At first glance it looks like a great film but it never engages the viewer the way a great film like that should. The film is still mildly entertaining (although it drags in several places) and looks beautiful but it doesn't ever amount to very much. Worth seeing if you're a big fan of these sorts of films but everyone else will be bored.
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