Escape tale by a man who never did it

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2010)

There are lots of nice ideas - more in suggestion than in the realisation by this film. Committed to a Gulag in deepest Siberia - apparently Nature will take its toll upon the prisoners rather than the conditions in the camp. This early statement strikes a wrong note right at the beginning and, unfortunately, this error is replicated for other overblown assertions in setting up the tale. The uneasy relationship between the escapees throughout their 4,000 mile journey also strikes a false note. Visually, there are some nice scenes but it doesn't make up for the thinness of the characterisations, the brevity of the detail in the survival skills necessary for this trek and the inevitable bonding that occurs - if only for the duration of the enforced comradeship. A tolerable film experience but not a classic.