A story of courage & strength

Rating: 7/10 (30 March 2018)

The Way Back, a story about the escape and bid for freedom of several prisoners from a Russian Gulag, is a film about people's abilities to survive in seemingly impossible circumstances. The conditions shown in the prison camp itself are fairly realistic, as they emphasize the presence of career criminals who clearly are more in control inside the camp than other groups, such as those who were incarcerated on charges of espionage or conspiracy. The film also emphasizes the all-important role of food and hunger, as indicated by several scenes in which prisoners dive for spare pieces of bread that have fallen on the ground. However, the majority of the film does not take place within the camp itself, but instead is a story of the escape through Siberia, the Gobi desert, and the Himalayas to India. The themes of hunger and dehydration were prevalent throughout the film, and as almost certainly would occur in such circumstances, the group spent the majority of the film searching for water, food, or both. The group encounters many obstacles along the way, both physical and mental, and the audience is left to imagine what the characters are thinking during long scenes in which they are depicted walking across vast expanses. Regardless of whether or not it is a true story, The Way Back is still inspiring as it taps into a vein of human strength and determination that can be found across time, countries, and cultures. People have a way of surviving even the most difficult of circumstances, and stories in which people have survived situations as trying as these scatter our history. Though it is a slightly idealistic plot, such as when by some miracle the group happens upon a well in the middle of the desert, The Way Back nonetheless is another example of this human strength that only appears in the most dire of circumstances, and which most of us are never forced to find.