The Way Back

Plot synopsis:
Fourteen-year-old Duncan from Albany, New York reluctantly goes on summer vacation to a beach house in a small seaside town near Cape Cod, Massachusetts with his mother, Pam; her boyfriend, Trent; and Trent's daughter, Steph. Trent emotionally disparages Duncan, often making comments and gestures that are belittling and rude to him. Steph in turn is equally rude and snobby towards Duncan and she seems to be spoiled by Trent, who in contrast to his treatment of Duncan seems to let her do whatever she wants. On the way to the beach house, Trent asks Duncan to rate himself on a scale of one to ten; Duncan rates himself a six while Trent tells him he thinks Duncan is a three. They arrive at the beach house and are greeted by the neighbors: the gregarious, hard-drinking Betty; her children Susanna and Peter; and married couple Kip and Joan. Later that evening, Duncan and Susanna have an awkward conversation from their adjacent porches.
Duncan discovers a small girl's bicycle in the garage of the beach house and uses it to begin exploring the town. At a pizza restaurant, he runs into the staff of Water Wizz, the local water park. He meets Owen who is playing Pac-Man, and eventually Owen takes Duncan under his wing and shows him around the park. Duncan meets the park's colorful, rag-tag group of employees: Caitlin, Lewis, and Roddy. Several kids at the water park speak reverently of a legendary pass in the tube slide, wondering how it could have been done. Owen hires Duncan for odd jobs at Water Wizz.
Outside the park, Duncan is continually neglected by his mother, Pam, who indulges in drinking, staying out at night, and smoking marijuana with other adult vacationers. At a Fourth of July cookout, Susanna sees that he is upset about this and invites him to go hunting for ghost crabs with her and Peter, where she talks about her absent father and helps Duncan to open up. Later that night, Duncan witnesses Trent and Joan kissing by the side of the house, but does not reveal what he saw.
Pam begins to suspect Trent and Joan are having an affair, but Trent convinces her nothing is going on. Later, Duncan confronts Pam in front of friends and neighbors and tells her to face up to Trent's affair and get rid of him. Trent in turn tells Duncan his divorced father does not want him. Duncan stalks away. Susanna follows him and comforts Duncan out on the beach. Duncan attempts to kiss Susanna, but she moves away, which makes him become even more upset. Accompanied by Peter, Duncan sneaks away to Water Wizz where Owen is throwing a going away party for Lewis.
After spending all night with his friends at Water Wizz, Duncan is still at the park the next morning, refusing to leave. Owen confronts him and asks him why he does not want to go home. Duncan opens up to Owen about his relationship with Trent and how the water park is the only place where he feels happy and accepted. Owen sympathizes with Duncan's problems. He tells Duncan there is a big world out there, and Trent's nasty remarks are more about himself than Duncan.
When Duncan arrives back at the beach house, Pam tells him they are leaving with Trent and Steph. Betty and her kids arrive to say their goodbyes. Susanna finally kisses Duncan, admitting that she "was just surprised" when she avoided his kiss earlier. When Trent stops for gas on their way out of town, Duncan jumps out of the station wagon and runs to Water Wizz, followed by his mother, then Trent and Steph. Duncan tells Owen and the other employees that he has to leave and tells Owen to follow him. He takes Owen to the Devil's Peak slide, and Duncan becomes the first person to ever pass someone in the water slide while the rest of the park watches. After finally introducing Owen to his mother, Duncan says goodbye to everyone at the park. Owen tells Pam she has a great kid, and introduces himself to Trent as "a good friend of the three". Trent, Steph, Pam and Duncan regroup in the car, where Pam finally stands up for herself, saying to Trent that he is "just a ride home", and they head out of town. Pam climbs to the way, way back of the car where Duncan is sitting and they share a smile as Trent's protests are heard in the background.

Tags: murder

Review:
Whatever - it doesn't matter, Peter Weir's "The Way Back", this movie about that book, which tells the tale of gulag escapees and their harrowing journey to freedom, is a well-told and inspiring tale than anything else.All of the actors are terrific in their roles - Jim Sturgess as the de- facto leader of the bunch, showing a more improved and mature side to his acting since "21"; Ed Harris as the gruff American Smith, who is hard-edged and iron-willed until he eventually befriends...; Saiorse Ronan as Irene, the runaway girl who joins them on their quest - Ronan here shows a perfect balance of various emotions while not overdoing it like many child stars her age...
So much so that I forgot about the controversy surrounding the "true story" and found myself hugely engrossed in the movie, not wanting it to end.In short, the film lightly suffers from lack of proper characterization, but is heavy on almost everything else - acting, directing, cinematography, production value and music.
Peter Weir's follow-up to Master & Commander (2003) is the unflinching, stark, & brilliant The Way Back, which takes on the weighty theme of man's struggle for freedom.At the dawn of WWII, several men escape from a Russian gulag.
& the adolescent Saoirse Ronan belies her extensive & impressive resume with an understated performance that sparkles against the men's terse asperity.Breathtaking vistas that serve as the backdrop to the cast's efforts lend The Way Back an epic feel, echoed by mature editing, & mavellously restrained use of music.This is, quite possibly, the most serious film Peter Weir has ever directed, & the result is both thought-provoking & inspiring.
Six-time Academy Award nominated director Peter Weir ("Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World", "The Truman Show") directed and wrote the adaptive screenplay for "The Way Back" based on the book "The Long Walk: A True Story of a Trek to Freedom" by Slawomir Rawicz, a Polish POW from the Soviet Gulag where the story begins, and on real life accounts of the journey.
However, the idea becomes a reality attracting an indebt prisoner named Valka (Farrel) and four other men escaping the Gulag and meeting a young girl named Irena (Ronan) on the path to freedom.The story is synonymous with walking more than a marathon every day through harsh terrain, uncontrollable elements and lack of food and water for an open-ended amount of time.
"The Way Back" isn't far off though with its main shortcoming stemming from the ending relying on a storyline tangent not fully developed (not the montage, the montage is great).This is the most underrated movie of 2010 with its limited advertising exposure, release and lack of award fulfillment with only one Oscar nomination for Best Make Up (well deserved as the group of survivors' skin is torn apart by the elements).
Let it take its time; it is thrilling and appalling, but also beautiful.The story, which Weir apparently has long wanted to film, is based on the account of a Polish army officer who later moved to England and wrote (with a ghost-writer) the book "The Long Walk," describing the journey he took with seven others.
While the veracity of the story in the book has been questioned, that doesn't interfere with the great film-making.Harris is fine as always, as is Colin Farrell as a Russian thug, but it is Jim Sturgess, as the Polish leader of the expedition, who has the most bravura performance.Bravo to the cast, cinematographer, and most of all, Mr. Weir..
The story of a small group of people escaping from a Siberian Soviet prison, part of the "Gulag" in wartime and walking 4000 miles to freedom looked a trifle grim in the trailer, but Peter Weir has managed to produce a rather beautiful film out of it, using Bulgaria and Morocco as locales rather than Siberia and the Gobi desert.
In the case of the lead character Janusz (Jim Sturgess) who is the source of the story this is explicable as we are seeing the others though his eyes, but it has to be said that both "Mr Smith" (the excellent Ed Harris) and the Girl (Saiorse Ronan) leave a lasting impression.I know there is some doubt as to the authenticity of the story, taken from a 1955 book by Slavimir Rawicz a former Polish army officer, and indeed what the group are supposed to have done looks impossible but that's not a problem, because the relationships ring true.
I mean these men escaped a Russian gulag and WALKED 4,000 miles from Siberia to India, come on...So this movie is based on the 1959 memoir "The Long Walk" (of which there is some debate over its validity).
A group of men break free from the security and barbed wire fence of a Siberian gulag in search of freedom, however the guards are very small beer to the real prison – the ravages of nature itself and the great distance which must be crossed before they can be truly free.Given that the focus of the film appeared to be one of endurance in the face of great suffering, this film is a bit of a hard sell for the casual viewer looking for something to watch of an evening; certainly for me this was part of the reason it took me a minute to decide to watch it.
This feeling of worthiness really kept me at arms' length from the characters and the challenge they faced, to the point where it felt a little indifferent towards any specific one of them – not in a cruel way, but the feat appears to have been the focus rather than the people.This is still able to make an interesting film though, because the feat is quite a thing and, as I said, the film is very careful to do it justice and not sentimentalise or trivialise it.
The rest of the group are good as well, but they also struggle to make an impression in all the worthiness.The Way Back is an interesting film that looks great, but it is also overly worthy and serious to a point that it is hard to really engage with it because it is hard to reach the characters on the pedestal that Weir puts them on..
The film isn't boring - at least, to me - but I can see some people seeing it that way, especially if you're used to today's action movies.The scenery is magnificent and some of the shots by director Peter Weir are jaw-dropping.
This is Weir's first film since the 2003 "Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World." The man does quality work.Ed Harris one of the few, if not only, actors in here whose English you can clearly understand, so it's a good idea to play this DVD with subtitles.
The characters and acting in here are good, too.If this subject matter interests you, find the book, "As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me," about a one-man escape from a Siberian Labor Camp following WWII..
It has some good actors in it such as Jim Sturgess , Colin Farrell and Ed Harris but even they couldn't improve on what was ultimately a bad piece of direction.Peter Weir should know better.
I was also taken back by the fact that this film was inspired by a true story, and believe you me when the end credits role you will understand why they had to make this story into a movie.I love it when a film surprises me on all fronts and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a decent way to spend 2 hours in the cinema this weekend.
The film is inspired by The Long Walk (1956), the memoir by former Polish prisoner of war Slawomir Rawicz who escaped from a Soviet Gulag along a group of 7 other men and walked 4,000 miles and continued across Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, ending finally months later in India for freedom in World War II.
Later they meet a women also on there way who added a small element of clamor in the film.The movie is beautiful with the aspect of locations shot, the acting was brilliant by every actor, the comedy is hilarious hardly whenever it's there and the story is damn inspiring.
Inspired by the book - The Long Walk by slavomir rawicz, The Way Back is a true story of 3 men who walk 4000 miles, from Siberia crossing the Himalayas to reach India.Truly a celebration of the human spirit.
Peter Weir makes a good film based on a true story with the epic journey to freedom of spirit of seven men and one teenager.
Director Peter Weir, who also wrote the screenplay and produced this movie, has managed to create an epic film with some marvelous landscapes where the main message here is the constant struggle for life and freedom.
In addition, I found interesting that Weir focused more on the philosophical and reflexive state of the characters instead of just showing us their day-to-day relations and interactions.About the story, after being accused of espionage in Russia during the height of communism, Zoran (Dragos Balkur) finds himself wrongfully imprisoned in a gulag in the heart of Siberia, his only thoughts ones of escape.
Ronan stars as Irena, a Russian girl the escapees pick up along the way.This is a moving film, based on a true story, told beautifully by Peter Weir.
The make-up crew did an incredible job on how the aspect of the human body changes along such a hard journey and they certainly deserved the Oscar nomination they received.All in all, this is great inspirational movie that anyone that who enjoys a good prison escape film should watch.
Famed Australian director Peter Weir's first film in seven years is the survival yarn "The Way Back"- based on the 1956 novel by Slavomir Raciwz- about a small group of prisoners who escape from a Soviet gulag in the 1940s and brave the elements across a 4,000 km trek from Siberia to India.
The film reveals in the first 20 seconds that plot, but takes over 2 hours to show how it is achieved.I personally came away from this deeply inspired, partly because it really makes you think that if they can achieve what they achieved, then how can I not complete any task in front of me, and secondly, because it is not glorified story-telling - it keeps it focus and keeps this pretty plain and simple - and yet it totally hypnotic.At every stage the detailing and the relationships are well done - but it is the effort that carries this to the heights - and like 127 hours you can complain that it's not full-blown production heavy filming - and you'll be right, but like 127 hours what you'll get instead, if you can let yourself become involved, an extraordinary journey that defies all sense of human effort.Well worth the effort.
This isn't a perfect movie, but I'm gladly going to give it thumbs up.Based on an impossible, but incredible true tale, the film centers on a group of people who escape from a concentration camp in Siberia, and attempt to travel all the way to India on foot.
This includes the leader, a young Polish POW named Janusz (Played by Jim Sturgess), a no crap from anyone criminal named Valka (Played by Colin Farrell), an American immigrant simply known as Mr. Smith (Played by Ed Harris), and the mysterious Irena (Played by Saoirse Ronan), an orphan who tags along with the group.The film is a dazzling epic directed by Peter Weir, a visual artist best known for films like Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show.
Saoirse Ronan shows up midway through the film to stir up team dynamics as being the only female in the group, and outside of the age demographics being the youngest of the lot.It's been a long time - some 7 years - since Peter Weir last helmed a film, and in some ways this celebration of the triumph of man's spirit is quite in line with his The Truman Show starring Ed Harris too, where a man journeys beyond his comfort zone to seek true freedom from the clutches of an engineered life brought about by a television producer.
The most tender scene was when the lone female of the group is on her last legs and one of the men scoops her up in his arms and carries her while she pleads with them to simply leave her behind.The film can be divided into three parts--Gulag, forest & desert trek, and crossing the Himalyas to freedom in India.
Now, many years after such iconic movies like Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Last Wave, I could see his most recent work, The Way Back, in which Weir shows that he keeps being a filmmaker who is mature and sure of his vision...even though the film falls into some affectation and artificiality, something which avoided me from feeling completely satisfied with it.There was some controversy about the veracity from the story portrayed in The Way Back, which was originally told in a book written by Slavomir Rawicz which pretends to have been based on true events.
Aided by the solid performances, Weir did not have any difficulty for us to get interested in the movie.Jim Sturgess brings a good performance, but since his character is kinda passive, he gets a bit darkened by the brilliant performances from Ed Harris and Colin Farrell, who both steal the show.
well,from the very first moment I was not expecting that much of "act in actors" in this film.but when the story gradually flows,You'll inherit it & enjoy the plot with thrills & goosebumps.brad fur man (the director)has done an amazing job & the presence of ed Harris was a bonus for us.they could have focus or expense a bit more minutes to the journey in my opinion.n the plotting was like cream on the cake,there could have been a thrilling sequence,all though it was good.but I'll prefer the gray over it any day.all the movie buffs out there,u should see it.you'll love it for sure.specially the camps were framed amazingly in the starting part..
Shot in Bulgaria, Morocco and India, the film stars Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe, The Other Boleyn Girl), Ed Harris (Appaloosa) and Colin Farrell (In Bruges) as prisoners of a Soviet Union labor camp, who, along with four others, flee their Siberian Gulag and begin a treacherous journey across thousands of miles of hostile terrain.
Anyway, it's a start.The movie follows a small group of a prisoners on their long walk / escape out of Siberia to freedom.
Based on a remarkable true survival story of a group of escaped prisoners and their 4,000 mile journey on foot to freedom, this film was always going to be make for fascinating viewing and the story certainly lives up to expectation.
The events of this film are based on the story recounted by Slavomir Rawicz, a polish army lieutenant who managed to escape from a Siberian gulag during the second world war and walked to freedom in India.
The Way Back is the story of a a group of prisoners breaking out of a siberian Gulag and walking across Siberia, Mongolia, China and Tibet, an epic journey of 4000 km to reach freedom in India.
He does not suggest that this film is based upon of true story, though it is based upon a book by a Pole named Slawomir Rawicz, who alleges that he escape from a Soviet Gulag in Siberia during a blizzard and travelled over 6000 km to freedom.
Further south, they pick up a young woman, another runaway Pole and on reaching Mongolia they discover that Communism has taken hold there, meaning safety is not guaranteed, leaving them the only option to cross the Gobi desert and make their way to Tibet and over to India.This film by Peter Weir is based on the 'true story' - although that's been debunked- and it's an epic tale.
Because of this it's difficult to find an emotional connection to these people who by all accounts are going through a huge life altering journey.It's a shame as it really should be an engrossing story, but it all feels very formulaic in it's presentation and while performances are okay, with actors playing various nationalities and there's an abundance of accents (and surprisingly all the characters speak fluent English!), the film just drags towards the end and it's main redeeming feature is the glorious variety of landscapes that fill the screen.More of my reviews at my site iheartfilms.weebly.com.
He should have stayed where he was.The premise of the story is an extraordinary one - a group of prisoners escape from a Siberian Gulag during the second world war and manage to walk all the way to India.
Directed by Peter Weir, "The Way Back" watches as a group of men escape a Soviet Gulag.
The Way Back, a story about the escape and bid for freedom of several prisoners from a Russian Gulag, is a film about people's abilities to survive in seemingly impossible circumstances.
However, the majority of the film does not take place within the camp itself, but instead is a story of the escape through Siberia, the Gobi desert, and the Himalayas to India.
The film The Way Back is a thrilling story which details the escape of prisoners from a Soviet Gulag and the journey they must embark on in order reach a nation without communist sympathies.
Peter Weir's The Way Back is a film chronicling a group of Gulag escapees' journey to freedom in India.
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.