So weit die Füße tragen
Tags: violence, cruelty, sadist, historical fiction

Plot synopsis:
Clemens Forell is a German soldier who is captured by the Soviets in 1945.
Forell is sentenced to 25 years hard labour for "crimes against the partisans" and sent as part of a large group of prisoners to a far northeast labour camp in the Soviet Union. After a huge cross-continent railway journey on starvation rations, and a long-cross-country trek by foot into the bleak wilderness, they arrive at the gulag. This is run by a cruel commander, Lieutenant Kamenev. After one unsuccessful attempt, Forell ultimately does escape with the aid of the camp doctor, Dr. Stauffer. Stauffer had planned to escape himself, but is terminally ill with cancer, so he gives Forell warm clothes and a loaded pistol, and explains where he has hidden supplies for a long journey. Forell promises to visit the doctor's wife in Magdeburg and tell her that he is already dead. Forell heads north to avoid the guards, who would expect him to go west. When the supplies given to him by Dr. Stauffer run out, he kills a seal for food.
Over the winter, he wanders across northern Siberia, until he meets Anastas and Semyon, two gold prospectors. Although initially suspicious of them, Forell eventually joins them. After Semyon falls in a river and Forell rescues him, Semyon kills Anastas when he suspects him of stealing his gold. Semyon and Forell then continue their journey. When Semyon can no longer continue, Forell offers to carry his pack for him, but a suspicious Semyon throws him down a slope, thinking he too will try to steal his gold. Beset by wolves, Forell is rescued by nomadic Chukchi herders, one of whom, named Irina, falls in love with him.
After he makes a successful recovery, the Chukchi find out the Soviets are looking for Forell. Much to Irina's chagrin, Forell leaves, with the dog the Chukchi give him for companionship. When he runs into a logging operation, Forell is sent on the train with the freight as a brakeman. Betrayed, he is nearly captured by the Soviets, led by Kamenev. Although Forell manages to escape, his dog is shot and killed when he attacks and mauls Kamenev, leaving him permanently scarred.
Over the next year, Forell makes his way to Central Asia. A Polish Jewish man helps him acquire a passport despite the fact that Forell is German, and Forell makes his way to the Iranian border. As he is walking to freedom, he sees Kamenev walking towards him from the Iranian side. Petrified, Forell stares at Kamenev and a showdown looms. However, Kamenev steps aside and lets Forell pass, declaring that "the victory is mine". Once on the Iranian side, Forell is believed to be a Soviet spy and taken prisoner. His uncle who works in Ankara, Turkey, however, is brought to identify him, and Forell is freed.
Arriving in Germany at Christmas, Forell sees his family leave for church. He then arrives at the church, where he is reunited with his family.

Review: As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me, a film version of an equally excellent book, tells the true story of one man and his struggle both during the war and in a Russian concentration camp, and his ensuing decades long struggle to rejoin his family.
In addition, "So weit die Füsse tragen" (As far as my feet will carry me) comes up with a topic that is - at least in Germany - seldomly discussed: German POW in Russian gulags after WW2.
Clemens Forell's three year walk through Siberia is a true story, which makes the film even more touching.A strong 8 out of 10, because of the effort the filmmakers put into it..
It is an extremely well-acted and well-produced adventure, based on the true story of a German POW's incredible journey through the dauntingly wide expanses and multi-ethnic terrain of the former Soviet Union in the late '40s and early '50s.
Bettlemen, whose grandfathers both died in Russian POW camps after WWII, said he did the film as much to illustrate their family's plights as that of the prisoners.The film (and the book) also illustrate that Samaritanism is not dead, and was not, even in Russia at this time.
I haven't read the book so it is hard to comment how faithful the film is to the book, but seems that the authors of the film almost a bit overemphasized the great survival story and the connection between the father and the child.This is counter-balanced by good acting, rather good cinematography and beautiful images of nature.
"So weit die Füsse tragen" is fairly entertaining as an adventure film and I was strangely attracted by the story about travelling through endless wastes of Siberia.
I like this movie very much - from my point of view its one of the best German movies i saw last years.Protagonist of movie is Clemens Forell, a German soldier in WWII, judged by Stalins Soviet Union to many years of "Arbeitslager" (you can also say "Gulag") in the most north-east of Siberia - what was normally equal to be judged to death (for example only 6000 from close to 100.000 POWs from the "Battle for Stalingrad" returned ever home - last ones in 1956 - 3 years after Stalin died).So, this movie shows the escape of Forell, going (mostly) by feet thousands of miles to escape from this point in the Soviet Union, where no tree grows - East Siberia.What is nice in this movie is the fact, that you realise, that not Forell, or the Russian people, have any hate against each other - its government, who made all this - the tyranny of Hitler and Stalin.This movie is really nice made - you don't want to stop to watch - as you cant stop reading a good book - i recommend it for everybody who want to see something about a part of WWII, where nobody speaks too often about - or who want to watch only a really nice movie.10 of 10 from me for this movie..
Atlast the wait is over, we see a German POW portrayed in good sense,up against all obstacles,hurdles a human could ever tolerate.Its about Clemens Forell(POW)making his way all through the feet to him hometown.
Irina Pantaeva locks you in her charm and beauty.Even though the film ends in a positive note,you will suffer from the DISTANT WALK.This film made me look beyond the horizon Hollywood, and ignited a liking for German movies.A great movie if you have the TIME.
This was a totally unnecessary addition to the film.I know that a movie can't follow all the detail of a long book about a longer journey.
It is based on a true story of a German prisoner of war captured by the Russians.
Imagine trying to wrap your suspension of disbelief around all of the following elements: At the end of WWII, a German POW, Clemens Forell, is sent to a Siberian forced-labor camp, in the far northeast corner of the Soviet Union (Russia), only a few hundred miles west of Alaska.
The Wild/Nature themes; to the fans of German and/or foreign cinema and to those with an interest in diverse cultures and film shoot locations.One thing that really impressed me; Most "True Stories", in recent years, stretch the truth quite a bit, for "dramatic impact"!
Its a story of a single german POW Clemens Forell, who escapes from prisoners camp in siberia and walks thousands of kilometers to the border of Iran, where he would be in safety of the sovjets.
It could not really concentrate on one topic: the hard conditions of war prisoners in Germany and adventurous scenes were put together - in a bit cheesy hollywood-like style.
Thats why I think this movie is even better for foreign watchers: they get a bit about german history, but theres some adventure to and it never gets to deep that they cant understand some things.
I don't know if it's the not-so-good quality of the 2000s movies, or is it just the fact that all the Russians spoke German freely (even the ones that couldn't have had any experience outside of their usual homeland) that made me dislike the movie.
With so much potential to uncover many truths, it remained focused on the emotional and hospitable side of the Russian people.I don't know why you are so into the details of one German POW story, while skipping the lengthy evidence what bogus are the jew-escapes- from-German-"dead"-camps stories.
A prisoner escapes from the Gulag in Siberia and walks to freedom in Iran.This movie is watchable and well filmed but the story is too contrived.
This film is about a German prisoner of war escaping from a camp in the eastern most tip of Siberia."So Weit die Füße Tragen" is amazing.
Even though the film is based on the bestseller with more than 30 million book copies sold worldwide, this does not make the story less tendentious, and standard western cliché with anti-soviet propaganda.Author of the book, the media who promoted the book, and well as producers of this film, want to make it look like the only good people in the whole story if fascist and Jew, and all the bad people are Russians.Especially outrageous is that fascist is told to be clueless about all the massacre, tortures, and killing that were done promoted by fascist Germany.
You can imagine how many civilian people they killed, tortured to death, made die of hunger, burn in whole villages.And with that author of the book and script writers of the film DARE to portray military fascist as someone who was just "oblidges to serve to his country".
NO WAY fascist did not hear of Mein Kampf or did not know what he was doing in WWII, letting himself being engaged with war.(This does not mean, of course, that Russian Gulags are pretty places, and there were only kind, noble and honest people serving.However, what author/film also did not show is how Russian civilian people were giving bread to fascist prisoners, as they considered themselves to be enough noble to be large-hearted as winners, who freed the world of fascism.).
I also have a recommendation for you especially if you like cold war books (i don't think there is a movie to that one) The spy who came in from the cold.
In its compromise-less realistic and not naturalistic description lies the big value of this movie.Without any scroll-work, the film shows the way of Clemens Forell from his way from Munich to Stalingrad in the last year of World War II, then his deportation to a Stalinistic Concentration Camp in Siberia, afterward his flight, made possible by a terminally ill German physician who provides him with the preparatory work originally intended for himself, then his basically indescribably pains on his unimaginable long and excruciating way through ten thousands of miles of Ice deserts, the taiga, downwards to the South into an Iranian prison, and then his miraculous, yet not fairy-tale-like release and return to his family after more than eight years of absence on Christmas Eve, like scheduled for Midnight Mass..
When we rented this movie I actually hoped it would be a bit more realistic and not a "romantical" version showing the Germans during World-War II as far "nicer" than they actually were.
It is interesting to see that there's so far not been many or any negative comments regarding this movie in this forum but that is most likely because people have started to forget the horrors of the holocaust; and who actually inflicted so much pain on the World.
Considering the realities of World-War II I must admit I find the movie very hard to stomach, and even harder to feel any sympathy with the suffering Germans.
The following is extracted from Wikipedia's paper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_Rost) on the origins of this movie and the book which inspired it:(Quote)"Cornelius Rost(born 27 March 1919 in Kufstein, Austria; died 18 October 1983 in Munich, Germany) was a German World War II soldier who claimed to have escaped from a Soviet Gulag camp in Siberia.
For example, no prisoner of war camp existed at Cape Dezhnev in the Far East of Siberia at the time claimed in the book; Rost was not a Wehrmacht officer as depicted in the story; the German Red Cross, with headquarters in Munich, never received any inquiry about his whereabouts, which is unusual for a ten-year imprisonment; and Rost had been released from a Russian prisoner of war camp on 28 October 1947, about two years before his alleged escape in 1949-1952, which he therefore could not have accomplished.It is suspected that his story consists only partly of real experiences, and partly of hearsay and knowledge possibly acquired by reading.
Bauer, as the author of the book, is now blamed for not having critically cross-checked the most unreliable details in Rost's story."(unquote)I quote this paper because it is a shame that for so many years someone could have deceived the public with what is obviously a way to try to amend oneself of having been part of a country which at the time of the Nazi regime was monstrous.
Rost was not obliged to invent such an escape to justify the fact that he was obliged to go to war unless to be considered a deserter.The great error in this movie is not to state very precisely at its beginning that there are events there that are not all credible even in 2001 when the movie was realized and before the debate which took place in 2010.We know of course that there has been unbelievable acts of courage and or feats during the war, incredible and successful attempts of evasion (many movies have been based on these), but here the accumulation of feats reaches such a level that it is totally impossible for a man to achieve them.
On the contrary, at the time hanging a picture of the Iranian king (the Shah) was obligatory in all government offices, which is not the case in the film."Of course a majority of the viewers will not notice them unless they are professional historians or politicians.All in all this is a very good movie, worth seeing but with in the back of the viewer's mind that it is for a majority of it pure fiction..
This is a German language film with English subtitles based on the novel by the same name which was based on a true story about a German POW in the aftermath of WWII who escaped a Siberia work camp and made an amazing 8,000-mile trek home to Munich to be reunited with his family.I haven't read the novel, but of course it was a novel and so much of it was made up.
Also a bit not so realistic is the Soviet camp commander who personally chases Forell all the way to the Iranian border (although that resulted in a nice ironic scene on the bridge at the border between Iran and what--I think--is Turkmenistan).
After WWII, in 1946, a German POW named Clemens Forell is sentenced by the Soviets to 25 years forced labor in east Siberia at Cape Deshnev.
Then, the most unbelievable is the Russian camp leader treking all over the Soviet Union trying to find this one German, even going as far as Siberian to the Iranian border, and of course gets to the EXACT same check point, then lets him go?
And then there's the dialog with his Jewish helper at the end of the film.I do not find the depiction of how ordinary Soviet citizens help an individual German soldier that incredible.
But life in general was cheap in Stalinist times, and this may go some way in explaining how the prisoners were treated.What added to my enjoyment was that, untypical for most German movies, most of the Soviet protagonists actually spoke Russian.
The film then jumps forward a year, with the war over and German POW's in Russia being transported to the GULAG's in Siberia.
During WW2, the USSR witnessed the very worst atrocities carried out by the Nazis, so feeling sympathy for these guys is hard to do if you know the history.When Forell makes his successful escape, following an unsuccessful one, the journey that follows is truly remarkable.
what of the feel-good scene where the Jew helps the German?
In fact, the dignity with which Clemens treats friend and foe alike could go a long way toward explaining the strength of character necessary for such a feat.As an aside, I once read an account of a Polish POW who escaped a prison camp after WWII and walked -the whole way- to India with two companions; it hasn't been independently verified and bears so many similarities to Clemens real-life adventure that I wonder whether the Polish guy's story is just a knock-off.**end spoilers**
"So weit die Füße tragen" or "As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me" is a German movie from 15 years ago and I am quite surprised how this film is really not known at all in Germany right now.
This is quite a shame as he does a really good job with this movie and is in basically every scene from start to finish and what is even more impressive is that he carries this film for over 150 minutes.
I would like to comment on those who say a German should not be portrayed in a positive light.We do not know what the German soldier in this movie knew or did not know about his country and what they did at the time he went to the war.All we really know is that he was called upon to serve his country and so he did.
We only know that he himself was treated very unfairly and cruelly by the Russians in a P.O.W. camp and that he endured great suffering in order to escape and arrive back home.So in that sense it is a beautiful movie about the human will to survive and get back to one's family.This movie is about a human being who suffers.
An entertaining film about Clemens Forell, one of the very few people that manage to successfully escape from the Gulag.
A German soldier in World War II, Forell was made prisoner and sentenced after the war to 25 years in a labor camp in the most remote patch of Siberia, near the Bering Strait, north of the Arctic Circle.
Amazingly, he not only escaped the camp but made it all the way from there to Iran mostly on foot (if you don't understand why this is an amazing feat, you can look at a map).The film is more sentimental and melodramatic than it should be, but is still a worthy and entertaining movie, even if at more than two and a half hours is a bit long.
One of my favorite parts is when after escaping from the camp he joins a couple of gold prospectors (the no-good prospectors seem almost out of a Western) and they sail through a remote uninhabited river that crosses beautiful conifer forests (that part of the movie, though, was apparently filmed not in Siberia but in Belarus).
Even though the movie is based on a real story, some scenes shown here are hard to swallow, like the idea that the camp commander in Siberia followed him all the way to the Iranian frontier only to let him go at the international bridge.
Also, beautiful international model Irina Pantaeva (who is originally a Buryat, a Buddhist ethnic group in Southern Siberia) plays one of the Chuckchis that shelter Forell for some time after he escaped from the camp (another good section of the movie).
Hennicke plays a fellow prisoner while Mendl, even though he is a German is one of the camp doctors (why he was allowed that role is never explained).Some viewers might object that the movie shows the Soviet guards brutality toward the German prisoners, while not explaining that the German soldiers during the war probably engaged in far worse atrocities.
The movie lets you believe that our main man will survive anything, but then you get socked in the stomach by the films evil characters.
Most of them are just trying to survive so that they can return to their families.This film is the true story of one such soldier.
One could easily substitute him with a guy in Iraq today who just wants to live and get back home.The first filming of this story was a mini-series for German television made in 1959.
From what I can determine, Bettermann is basically a German television star, but he has the combination of toughness, sensitivity, and good looks that could easily make him a major film star.This is one of those stories that, if you didn't know it were true, you wouldn't believe it.