Decent Depiction of Camp Experience

Rating: Null/10 (25 March 2018)

The Way Back is the film adaptation directed by Peter Weir of the book, The Long Walk, written by Slawomir Rawicz. The film is a depiction of the Soviet gulags, but is largely about the escape and trek to freedom by a small group of prisoners. Although the film time that is actually spent in the gulag is short compared with the rest of the film, there are many elements within this section of the movie that are extremely reminiscent of the actual camps. The film depicted the camp economy which is often unexplored in camp films, but was sometimes a major contributing factor to an internee's survival. Additionally, the brutal hierarchy of the criminal class and the extreme punishment of being sent to the mines were some of the greatest dangers for prisoners of the gulags. However, the film does a great job of highlighting the fact that the men were not held prisoner by the fences, but rather by the extreme climate of Siberia. This notion was explored both within the camp as seen by the snowstorm, as well as throughout the film as the characters ultimately died of starvation, fatigue, disease, and dehydration.
Although I felt the film did a fair job depicting the decline of the characters, the historicity of the film is very implausible. Although there were 1-2 accounts of gulag prisoners that arrived in India, it was a very small group that did not have an exact reference as to where they came from and how far they travelled. The possibility of 4 men surviving the trek from the northern parts of Siberia to India, especially one being in his later years, is highly implausible. Although this is an inspiring story, possibly based off of true events, it is important for viewers to recognize that this was an outstanding circumstance and the outcome for many others was not survival.