Great Movie, dodgy Accents

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2010)

A group of prisoners of war escape from a Russian Gulag during the second world war and trek thousands of miles through hostile terrain into freedom. Sounds like a great movie, and it is.
At first the viewer is introduced to the characters inside the prison. The harsh and brutal reality is well portrayed. The actual escape is not shown and they don't seem to be followed. Which seems strange.
The trek through the snow, the mountains and then the deserts is very captivating and dramatic as some of the escapees die. I am not sure where this has been filmed, but I don't think it has been filmed in the real locations. Some visual effects are poorly made (sometimes you can see that they are sitting in a studio, and not in the mountains). This takes away a little of the feeling that the viewer is involved.
Also, some of the actors are not Russian but speak with a Russian accent which at times is appalling. I acknowledge that having some stars in the movie is quite appealing but the accents are dodgy.
All in all, this is a great movie that fits in very well with Peter Weirs previous work.