The Way Back
Encyclopedia
The Way Back is a 2010 drama film about a group of prisoners who escape from a Siberia
n Gulag
camp during World War II
. The film is directed by Peter Weir
from a screenplay also by Weir and Keith Clarke, inspired by The Long Walk (1955), a book by Sławomir Rawicz, a Polish POW in the Soviet Gulag
. It stars Jim Sturgess
as Janusz, Colin Farrell
as Valka, Ed Harris
as Mr. Smith, and Saoirse Ronan
as Irena, with Alexandru Potocean as Tomasz,
Sebastian Urzendowsky as Kazik, Gustaf Skarsgård
as Voss, Dragoş Bucur
as Zoran, and Mark Strong
as Khabarov. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Makeup.
At the camp in Siberia
, Janusz meets Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), an American Metro engineer; an actor named Khabarov (Mark Strong); Valka (Colin Farrell), a hardened Russian criminal; Tomasz, an artist and the group's cook; Kazik, a Pole who suffers from night blindness; Voss, a Latvian priest; and Zoran, a Yugoslav accountant. Khabarov confides to Janusz that he has a plan for escaping. Khabarov's proposed route is south to Mongolia
, passing Lake Baikal
. Smith tells Janusz that Khabarov is fantasizing about his desire to escape in order to improve his own morale, but Smith is really willing to attempt it.
After being condemned to labor in the mines, Janusz decides to implement the escape plan during a severe snowstorm. Smith, Valka, Zoran, Voss, Tomasz, and Kazik escape with him. On the first night, while looking for firewood, Kazik becomes lost due to his night blindness and eventually freezes to death. He is found by the group next morning and buried; at his grave, Janusz says "A free man died here."
After ten days, the group becomes hopelessly lost and bivouacs in a large cave. Janusz decides to search for the lake by himself, and after three days of trekking across the Siberian steppe
, he sees the lake from the top of a cliff and returns to camp, almost dead from exhaustion.
When they reach Lake Baikal
they come across a Polish girl, Irena (Saoirse Ronan), who tells them she escaped from a collective farm and was originally from a village outside Warsaw
where her parents were murdered by Russian soldiers. Smith realizes she is lying, since Warsaw was inside German occupation zone and Russians hadn't reached it, but he forgives Irena. She later tells the group that she came to the Soviet Union with her parents, communist idealists who were arrested as spies.
Eventually the party reaches the Russian-Mongolian border but Valka decides to stay in Russia because, despite his imprisonment, he still sees Russia as his homeland, and Stalin as a hero.
The group carries on but soon finds a great arch over the road with images of Joseph Stalin
and a red star, implying that Mongolia
is now a Communist state and they will not be safe there. Because of the situation in nearby China
they decide that the closest safe place is India
and so continue south, across the Gobi desert
.
As they cross the desert, the party becomes increasingly dehydrated, but they soon discover a well. They stock up with as much water as they can carry and continue on. Soon a sandstorm strikes and they have to seek protection behind a dune for several hours. As they cross the desert the water runs out and the group begins to grow weak with blisters and sunstroke
. Irena repeatedly collapses and eventually dies.
The remaining five continue walking until Tomasz dies and Smith loses the will to live. That evening, while Zoran and Voss continue, Janusz stays behind with the apparently dying Smith. Smith tells Janusz that he cannot overcome the guilt of taking his son to Russia. Janusz explains that he is motivated by the desire to see his wife again so he can forgive her and she can thereby forgive herself, implying Smith should forgive himself too. Smith and Janusz rejoin the others and the next day they find a small stream of water to save them from dehydration.
By now they are in sight of the Himalayas and whilst resting on a rock are found by a Sherpa
who guides them to a nearby monastery. They regain their strength but are told by the monks that India
cannot be safely reached until spring. Smith decides to continue to Lhasa
where there is an American military mission that will enable him to return to the United States
, telling the others they've "made it."
Despite the warning of unpredictable snow making the journey difficult, Janusz insists to continue the journey. Soon, they continue over the Himalayas
until they reach the Nepalese/Indian
border, where they are given a warm welcome by the locals.
The film ends with Janusz reminiscing about returning home to his wife. This is followed by a montage of the Communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe
and its eventual overthrow. The final scene shows Janusz and his wife reunited in 1989.
and subsequent 4,000-mile walk to freedom in India
. Very popular, it sold over 500,000 copies and is credited with inspiring many explorers. In 2006, the BBC
unearthed records (including some written by Rawicz himself) that showed that, rather than having escaped from the Gulag, in fact in 1942, he had been released by the USSR. In May 2009, Witold Gliński, a Polish
WWII
veteran living in the United Kingdom
, came forward to claim that Rawicz's story was true but was actually an account of what happened to him, not Rawicz. Glinski's claims also have been seriously questioned. In addition, in 1942, a group of Siberian Gulag escapees is said to have hiked into India. However this too is suspect. Though the director Peter Weir continues to claim that the so-called long walk happened, he himself now describes The Way Back as "essentially a fictional film."
Regardless of whether this particular 'long walk' really took place, during World War II other Poles undertook difficult journeys attempting to leave the Soviet Union
. Accounts of their escapes can be found in the archives of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London
, England
, and in the Hoover Institute, Stanford University
, in California
. Also, several relatively verifiable and believable escapee autobiographies have been published in English, e.g., Michael Krupa's Shallow Graves in Siberia.
reports that 75% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 93 reviews, with an average score of 6.8/10. The critical consensus is: "It isn't as emotionally involving as it should be, but this Peter Weir epic offers sweeping ambition and strong performances to go with its grand visual spectacle." Empire
awarded the film three out of five stars and said "It’s good, but from this director we have come to expect great." The Guardian
awarded it three out of five and said "Weir has put together a good film – oddly, though, considering its scale, it feels like a rather small one." The Telegraph
called the film "A journey that feels awful and heroic and unfathomable – and one you’ll want to watch again."
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
camp during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The film is directed by Peter Weir
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
from a screenplay also by Weir and Keith Clarke, inspired by The Long Walk (1955), a book by Sławomir Rawicz, a Polish POW in the Soviet Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
. It stars Jim Sturgess
Jim Sturgess
James Anthony "Jim" Sturgess is an English actor and singer-songwriter. His breakthrough role was appearing as Jude in the musical romance drama film Across the Universe .-Early life:...
as Janusz, Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell
Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
as Valka, Ed Harris
Ed Harris
Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
as Mr. Smith, and Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Una Ronan is an Irish film actress. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2007 after co-starring in the film Atonement, which gained her nominations for a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.Ronan has since appeared in...
as Irena, with Alexandru Potocean as Tomasz,
Sebastian Urzendowsky as Kazik, Gustaf Skarsgård
Gustaf Skarsgård
Gustaf Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, son of My Skarsgård and Stellan Skarsgård and brother of Eija, Valter, Sam, Bill and Alexander Skarsgård...
as Voss, Dragoş Bucur
Dragos Bucur
Dragoş Bucur is a Romanian actor.Dragoş Bucur received the Shooting Stars Award, the annual acting award for up-and-coming actors by European Film Promotion, at the Berlin International Film Festival 2010.-Selected filmography:...
as Zoran, and Mark Strong
Mark Strong
Mark Strong is an English actor, with a body of work in both films and television. He has performed in films as varied as Body of Lies, Syriana, The Young Victoria, Sherlock Holmes, RocknRolla, Stardust, and Kick-Ass...
as Khabarov. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Makeup.
Plot
Janusz (Jim Sturgess) is a Polish POW, who is being interrogated by a Soviet officer. Janusz refuses to admit his guilt. His wife, who has been tortured, is brought in to the room and forced to make a statement condemning Janusz. Janusz is sentenced to 20 years in the Gulag.At the camp in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, Janusz meets Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), an American Metro engineer; an actor named Khabarov (Mark Strong); Valka (Colin Farrell), a hardened Russian criminal; Tomasz, an artist and the group's cook; Kazik, a Pole who suffers from night blindness; Voss, a Latvian priest; and Zoran, a Yugoslav accountant. Khabarov confides to Janusz that he has a plan for escaping. Khabarov's proposed route is south to Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, passing Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
. Smith tells Janusz that Khabarov is fantasizing about his desire to escape in order to improve his own morale, but Smith is really willing to attempt it.
After being condemned to labor in the mines, Janusz decides to implement the escape plan during a severe snowstorm. Smith, Valka, Zoran, Voss, Tomasz, and Kazik escape with him. On the first night, while looking for firewood, Kazik becomes lost due to his night blindness and eventually freezes to death. He is found by the group next morning and buried; at his grave, Janusz says "A free man died here."
After ten days, the group becomes hopelessly lost and bivouacs in a large cave. Janusz decides to search for the lake by himself, and after three days of trekking across the Siberian steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
, he sees the lake from the top of a cliff and returns to camp, almost dead from exhaustion.
When they reach Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
they come across a Polish girl, Irena (Saoirse Ronan), who tells them she escaped from a collective farm and was originally from a village outside Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
where her parents were murdered by Russian soldiers. Smith realizes she is lying, since Warsaw was inside German occupation zone and Russians hadn't reached it, but he forgives Irena. She later tells the group that she came to the Soviet Union with her parents, communist idealists who were arrested as spies.
Eventually the party reaches the Russian-Mongolian border but Valka decides to stay in Russia because, despite his imprisonment, he still sees Russia as his homeland, and Stalin as a hero.
The group carries on but soon finds a great arch over the road with images of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and a red star, implying that Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
is now a Communist state and they will not be safe there. Because of the situation in nearby China
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
they decide that the closest safe place is India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and so continue south, across the Gobi desert
Gobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
.
As they cross the desert, the party becomes increasingly dehydrated, but they soon discover a well. They stock up with as much water as they can carry and continue on. Soon a sandstorm strikes and they have to seek protection behind a dune for several hours. As they cross the desert the water runs out and the group begins to grow weak with blisters and sunstroke
Hyperthermia
Hyperthermia is an elevated body temperature due to failed thermoregulation. Hyperthermia occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate...
. Irena repeatedly collapses and eventually dies.
The remaining five continue walking until Tomasz dies and Smith loses the will to live. That evening, while Zoran and Voss continue, Janusz stays behind with the apparently dying Smith. Smith tells Janusz that he cannot overcome the guilt of taking his son to Russia. Janusz explains that he is motivated by the desire to see his wife again so he can forgive her and she can thereby forgive herself, implying Smith should forgive himself too. Smith and Janusz rejoin the others and the next day they find a small stream of water to save them from dehydration.
By now they are in sight of the Himalayas and whilst resting on a rock are found by a Sherpa
Sherpa people
The Sherpa are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas. Sherpas migrated from the Kham region in eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 300–400 years.The initial mountainous migration from Tibet was a search for beyul...
who guides them to a nearby monastery. They regain their strength but are told by the monks that India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
cannot be safely reached until spring. Smith decides to continue to Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
where there is an American military mission that will enable him to return to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, telling the others they've "made it."
Despite the warning of unpredictable snow making the journey difficult, Janusz insists to continue the journey. Soon, they continue over the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
until they reach the Nepalese/Indian
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
border, where they are given a warm welcome by the locals.
The film ends with Janusz reminiscing about returning home to his wife. This is followed by a montage of the Communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and its eventual overthrow. The final scene shows Janusz and his wife reunited in 1989.
Cast
- Jim SturgessJim SturgessJames Anthony "Jim" Sturgess is an English actor and singer-songwriter. His breakthrough role was appearing as Jude in the musical romance drama film Across the Universe .-Early life:...
as Janusz Wieszczek, a young Polish inmate. - Colin FarrellColin FarrellColin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
as Valka, a tough Russian inmate. - Ed HarrisEd HarrisEdward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
as Mr. Smith, an American inmate. - Saoirse RonanSaoirse RonanSaoirse Una Ronan is an Irish film actress. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2007 after co-starring in the film Atonement, which gained her nominations for a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.Ronan has since appeared in...
as Irena, an orphaned teenage Polish girl on the run from Soviet Russia who meets up with the fugitives near a lake. - Mark StrongMark StrongMark Strong is an English actor, with a body of work in both films and television. He has performed in films as varied as Body of Lies, Syriana, The Young Victoria, Sherlock Holmes, RocknRolla, Stardust, and Kick-Ass...
as Khabarov - Dragoş BucurDragos BucurDragoş Bucur is a Romanian actor.Dragoş Bucur received the Shooting Stars Award, the annual acting award for up-and-coming actors by European Film Promotion, at the Berlin International Film Festival 2010.-Selected filmography:...
as Zoran - Gustaf SkarsgårdGustaf SkarsgårdGustaf Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, son of My Skarsgård and Stellan Skarsgård and brother of Eija, Valter, Sam, Bill and Alexander Skarsgård...
as Voss
Background
The film is loosely based on The Long Walk, a book by Sławomir Rawicz, depicting his alleged escape from a Siberian gulagGulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
and subsequent 4,000-mile walk to freedom in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Very popular, it sold over 500,000 copies and is credited with inspiring many explorers. In 2006, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
unearthed records (including some written by Rawicz himself) that showed that, rather than having escaped from the Gulag, in fact in 1942, he had been released by the USSR. In May 2009, Witold Gliński, a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veteran living in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, came forward to claim that Rawicz's story was true but was actually an account of what happened to him, not Rawicz. Glinski's claims also have been seriously questioned. In addition, in 1942, a group of Siberian Gulag escapees is said to have hiked into India. However this too is suspect. Though the director Peter Weir continues to claim that the so-called long walk happened, he himself now describes The Way Back as "essentially a fictional film."
Regardless of whether this particular 'long walk' really took place, during World War II other Poles undertook difficult journeys attempting to leave the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Accounts of their escapes can be found in the archives of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and in the Hoover Institute, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Also, several relatively verifiable and believable escapee autobiographies have been published in English, e.g., Michael Krupa's Shallow Graves in Siberia.
Reception
The Way Back has received generally positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 75% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 93 reviews, with an average score of 6.8/10. The critical consensus is: "It isn't as emotionally involving as it should be, but this Peter Weir epic offers sweeping ambition and strong performances to go with its grand visual spectacle." Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
awarded the film three out of five stars and said "It’s good, but from this director we have come to expect great." The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
awarded it three out of five and said "Weir has put together a good film – oddly, though, considering its scale, it feels like a rather small one." The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
called the film "A journey that feels awful and heroic and unfathomable – and one you’ll want to watch again."
Further reading
- Linda Willis, 2010. Looking for Mr. Smith: The Quest for the Truth Behind The Long Walk, the Greatest Survival Story Ever Told. Skyhorse Publishing.
External links
- The Way Back walk path at Google Maps