Hollywood leaves the Second World War behind to examine the Communist gulags

Rating: Null/10 (7 December 2011)

Plot: A band of prisoners escape a Soviet gulag in Siberia and must walk across thousands of miles of inhospitable terrain to freedom in India.
This is a film about people walking. The first half drags in places and the characters aren't that deep (Hero, Joker, Religious, Criminal). But the last two minutes will leave you with a lump in your throat. Finally, here is a Hollywood film about the crimes of Communism, and it's a good one. Special praise must go to Colin Farrell as a conflicted zek (criminal), and to Saoirise Ronan as a mysterious girl whose etheral femininity serves to underline the harshness of survival in the wilderness and of escape. A well-made film, with stunning landscapes on a worthy subject.