The Way Back (2010) - Weir's honorable but muddled, presumably last film

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A textural and visually appealing poster for Peter Weir's The Way Back

 

A political prison in Sibiria during the Stalin regime: Extreme hardship reigns, and surrounding the camp is colossal, hostile Russia. A group of prisoners escape and launch on a 4,000 mile walk through forests, desert and mountains. - Not every one makes it.

 

The Way Back, written by Keith R. Clarke (Ben-Hur (2016)) and great Australian co-writer/co-producer/director Peter Weir (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)), based on Sławomir Rawicz's supposedly autobiographical novel The Long Walk (1955), is on an honorable mission: Portraying the misanthropic consequences of communism with a story that utilizes Christian themes. Unfortunately the film isn't good enough.

The language aspect, (different kinds of English accents, Russian accent, broken English and some few Russian words are combined), is interfering and strange. Colin Farrell (Alexander (2004)) is just plain bad as a brutal Russian with Stalin in his heart. The film has nearly no releases in the form of humor, - but it does have unconvincing CGI wolves, (ugh!) The harshness of nature isn't done justice in this regrettably mixed experience which seems destined to become Weir's last film.

 

Related review:

 

Peter Weir: The Cars That Ate Paris/The Cars That Eat People (1974) or, Small Town, Big Hell

Watch a 1-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 30 mil. $

Box office: 20.3 mil. $

= Huge flop

[The Way Back premiered September 3 (Telluride Film Festival) and runs 133 minutes. Filming took place from February - June 2009 in Bulgaria, Morocco and India. Pole Rawicz's book's truthfulness has been contended by several since its publication, which was sold in more than 500k copies. Weir believes the story to be true but says his film is "essentially fiction". The film opened and peaked at #15 in 678 theaters to a 1.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed just 2.7 mil. $ (13.3 % of the total gross). The 3 biggest markets were France with 7.3 mil. (36 %), Spain with 4 mil. $ (19.7 %) and the UK with 3 mil. $ (14.8 %), (followed by North America.) The film was nominated for the Best Makeup Oscar, which it lost to The Wolfman. The Way Back is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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