Walkabout

Rating: Null/10 (29 March 2015)

Directed by Peter Weir, "The Way Back" watches as a group of men escape a Soviet Gulag. They then travel south from Siberia to Mongolia to China to India. The film was based on the memoirs of Slawomir Rawicz, a Polish POW.
Though it purports to be based on a "true story", every inch of "The Way Back" oozes implausibility. The actions, mannerisms, words and survival tactics of Weir's characters ring false, and the film's plot is blatantly a tall tale based on phony memoirs. Whilst it is certainly possible to travel from Siberia to India on foot, Weir's film never convincingly conveys why human beings would risk their lives doing this. Aware of this fact, Weir inserts various heavy-handed subplots about "freedom" and the "drive to escape communism", as though Eurasia were so small, so devoid of hiding places, that one must logically scale the Himalayas and trek across China and Mongolia in the name of liberty.
"The Way Back" boasts gorgeous location photography and fine performances by Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess and a young Saoirse Ronan. Actor Colin Farrell steals the show as Valka, a murderous Russian inmate with a fondness for Joseph Stalin. Unfortunately Valka - whom Farrell imbues with wonderful textures - exits Weir's picture early. A better film would have perhaps followed him, as everything after his departure reeks of incredulity.
6/10 – Worth one viewing. See "Papillon".