Peter Weir is one of the best directors in the biz and has been for a long time. That may be a generalization but I think I have broad support on this stance. Let the record show: Witness, Dead Poet's Society, Master and Commander, Fearless, Mosquito Coast, The Truman Show, The Year of Living Dangerously. That's not even counting his youthful days as part of the Australian New Wave with films like Gallipoli, The Last Wave or Picnic at Hanging Rock. That's some resume, huh?
When Peter Weir directs his first film in seven years it big news. Only this time, not so much.
In "The Way Back", a group of prisoners in a Siberian gulag escape, only to face a more daunting natural prison as they hike away from communist oppression and toward freedom in India. Ed Harris, Colin Firth and four other men endure freezing cold, stifling heat, lack of water, and daunting mountains along the way. They also pick up a young Russian girl who is on the run (Saoirse Ronan).
That's it. They walk. They talk a little and form a bond. It would be alright if there was any variety to the struggle. How many times can you crest a hill only to find more hills? The scenes in the prison are the most compelling part of the film. The whole thing, when measured against Peter Weir's stellar legacy, is quite disappointing. Not horrible, just disappointing. And there's a weird voice over in the beginning that gives away how many of the group actually make it, so there goes THAT dramatic tension. I hope Weir doesn't wait seven years before his next directorial outing.
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