THE WAY BACK

US, 2011, 133 minutes, Colour.
Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Saoirse Ronan, Mark Strong.
Directed by Peter Weir.

Peter Weir has always been a careful film-maker. It is almost eight years since he made his previous film, Master and Commander. He is attentive to detail and chooses only projects that interest him. This is a story of endurance and survival, a tale of a gruelling and physically demanding journey that may take its toll on audience patience and endurance. It is not easy viewing.

It seems that the author of the book on which the film is based did not actually make the journey he described. It was made by someone else. The central character is a young Polish patriot who is arrested by the Soviets in 1940, interrogated and denounced by his wife (under torture). He refuses to sign any document incriminating him and is transported to a gulag in Siberia where, as the commandant explains, nature itself imprisons the inmates.

Life in the gulag is one of slave labour in the freezing and blizzard-prone forests and in the choking mines. Janus, the young Pole (played by Jim Sturgess) is determined to escape and is encouraged by an actor inmate (Mark Strong). An opportunity arises and a group begin their hazardous long way back. The group consists of Janus, an American engineer, Mr Smith (a grizzled Ed Harris), a Russian criminal with tattoos of Lenin and Stalin on his chest (Colin Farrell playing non-heroic), a priest, an artist, a chef and a young man who has contracted night blindness.

The aim is to reach India where the British are in control. We share the harsh details of the trek of 4000 miles, through Siberian forests in winter, through a mosquito infected lake area in summer, across the Mongolian border into the deserts, then into the mountains, through Tibet into India. Hunger, dehydration, cold and heat almost defeat them but they don’t. Not all survive. Along the way, they encounter a young Polish girl who has fled a communal farm (Saorsie Ronan). She brings a touch of humanity to each of the men, drawing out their stories and enabling them to realise that they do not know each other very well at all.

Weir is also interested in the motivations of each of the men. The criminal, who had dreams of escaping to America, finds that he really cannot leave his homeland where he feels secure. Mr Smith is to make contact with an American delegation and go home. It is Janus who has to find his way back home – the significant question of the title is the way back to what and to where – to meet his wife again and be reconciled with her. His is a quest for forgiveness and peace. It takes a long time.

The film ends with a recapitulation of the Communist decades from the end of the War until the collapse of the Soviet Union and Poland’s freedom. Watching the film is not an easy experience but the themes stay with you and are well worth reflecting on.

1. A film of the human spirit? Endurance? Survival? Forgiveness?

2. The work of Peter Weir, storytelling, themes, mysticism?

3. The period, the 1940s, Poland and the occupation, the Siberian gulags, the Russian countryside, Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, India?

4. The locations, the experience of the seasons, the camps, the forests in winter, the lakes, summer and the insects, the deserts and the mountains? The musical score?

5. The title, its meaning, the way back for each of the central characters?

6. Janusz and his being interrogated, his wife giving evidence against him, her being tortured, his refusal to sign, his resignation, compassion for his wife? His motivations throughout the film? To return to his wife? To offer her comfort and forgiveness? His final achievement?

7. The camp and its detail, the slave labour, the arrival of the new men, the speech from the commandant, nature being the prison, the hut, the heat, the cold, the political prisoners, the criminals and their gambling, the knife fights and the murder, food, hunger, bartering, surviving?

8. The blizzard, caught in the forest, Janus and his keeping the men alive, their sheltering amongst the trees, going to the mines, the Egyptologist and his comments, the plan for the escape?

9. The actor, his friendship with Janus, his stories, stories of the escape, his offering to be a guide, his personal fears?

10. The set-up, the group, the generator, the generator going out, through the fence, the dogs in pursuit?

11. Life in the forest, the time passing, the freezing cold, the woods, the young blind man and his freezing to death, the hallucinations experienced by Janus and the blind man?

12. The development of the characters, Janusz and his energy, leadership, motivation? Smith, his background, engineer, the death of his son? Grizzled and hard? Velco as the criminal, his tattoos, his surly attitude? The priest, the story of his killing people? The artist and his drawings? The cook? Cheerfulness and humour, reactions against it? The interactions of the men? Cohesion as a group?

13. Finding their way to the lake, the difficulties, Janus scouting ahead, his finding it, coming back, their arrival? Irena and her following? The different attitudes towards her, allowing her to go with them?

14. Irena and her stories, fabrications, the truth, Smith and his hostility, yet sharing with her, the revealing of the stories, her getting them to know each other better, her strong spirit and fortitude, trying to keep up, the pathos of her death and burial?

15. Valka, his stealing the food, his hardened attitudes, the tattoos of Stalin and Lenin, his contribution, his inability to cross the border into Mongolia, staying in his security in Russia?

16. The trek to the lake, the mosquitoes, the disfigurement of their faces, seeing the train line, the village, getting advice from the locals about repelling the mosquitoes? The border?

17. The experiences in Mongolia, the Mongolian riders, the young woman leaving the water for them?

18. The mirages, the desert, the need for water?

19. The distances, the effect on their feet, illness, the artist and his death? Going to the monastery, its being abandoned? Smith and his decision to stay? Their persuading him to go on?

20. Going to the mountains, the experiences of the snake, finding the water through the snake, the snake as food?

21. The climbing, the severe mountains, discovering Tibet, the people, the welcome? Smith and his plan to go back to America?

22. The Himalayas, India, asking for passports, the plans, the admiration of the people?

23. Going through the history of Eastern Europe and communism to 1990?

24. Janusz, going to the door of his house, the memories, his wife, holding her hand, forgiveness and reconciliation?

25. A cinema treatment of themes of depth? The gruelling experience – too difficult for many audiences?