At the time I was writing the paper, I will admit I hadn't actually seen any movies with Saoirse. So, in desperation, I searched the internet for any movies she was in (other than The Host which hadn't yet been released at the time) that I might be able to obtain and watch prior to turning in the paper. My investigation led me to City of Ember (2008). Blockbuster happened to have a copy, and they were willing to hold it until I got out of class (3 hours later), and thus I was able to watch a Saoirse Ronan movie before turning in my paper (not due until the following Friday).
But, there was a list of other movies as well. The Lovely Bones, Atonement, and Hanna to name a few. One of those movies was The Way Back. And, since that movie was on the list of Saoirse-movies, I watched the trailer.
It's important to note that I've been interested in World War Two and Holocaust history ever since I was eight years old. I love learning about Anne Frank and Corrie Ten Boom. I love reading about their "adventures" hiding from and evading the Nazis. In fact, I used to play that I was hiding from Nazis when I was younger. Sick, twisted game, I know, but I didn't fully comprehend the horrors of the holocaust, and how terrifying really hiding from the Nazis would have been.
I also love the WW2 POW stories, like The Great Escape (which I, and others I know, think should be retitled The Great Escape Attempt That Ended Badly for 50 People) and the Van Ryan Express. I love reading/hearing about their brave and elaborate escape attempts, and their daring journeys across enemy lands, hoping to make it to safety before they are recaptured.
That's why The Way Back stuck out to me so much. More or less based on a true story, it chronicles the journey of several escapees from a Soviet Gulag as they tracked across about 4000 miles of Siberian craziness and merciless desert to reach India and freedom from Communism.
"This movie is dedicated to them," the opening title on the movie states.
Movies like these, I think, are testimonies to human ingenuity and determination. God did not create mankind to be a bunch of quitters. Instead, God gave us survival instincts, and the will to pull through, to conquer obstacles, and to keep going until we reach our destination. Movies like these inspire me.
I just recently got around to watching The Way Back on Netflix. With subtitles. The movie is set in Soviet Russia, and therefore everyone (except Mr. Smith) speaks with very thick Russian/Polish/German accents, which - though lovely and authentic — are very difficult to understand at times. Even more impressive is that everyone not only had to pull out the Russian accents for the film, but they also had to learn fluent Russian. Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronan are Irish, and Jim Sturgess is from England, yet they pulled off spotless Russian accents, as well as speaking (and singing) in fluent Russian. Even flat-out American Ed Harris speaks fluent Russian. As said before, I'm impressed.
Within the first 9 minutes of the movie, I was already finding some interesting things.
For one, the Soviet Union and the United States (defying all logic, and only becoming friends because of a mutual dislike for Hitler) joined forces during the 2nd World War. Yet, Mr. Smith (Ed Harris) is an American prisoner. Another prisoner in the Gulag tells the mean character, Janusz (not played by Saoirse Ronan, mind you) that, "Stalin hates foreigners," in reference to Mr. Smith's being an American.
I found this interesting. Even though Stalin and Roosevelt joined forces during WW2, Stalin was still the sick, twisty freak he'd always been, and possibly even imprisoned Americans. Really, this shouldn't be surprising when you think about it. But, I found it slightly ironic. Maybe, this can be explained by the fact that The Way Back takes place in 1941, and the US didn't officially join the War (and thus enter a partnership with Stalin) until 1942?
Also interesting is Irena's story in terms of historical accuracy. I haven't done a whole lot of research on the Soviet Union. But, I have read Goodbye is Not Forever by Amy George (I highly recommend reading this book!). Amy (an Americanized version of her Russian nickname "Emmi") grew up in Russia under Stalin, and was taken (along with her mother, brother, and sister) to Nazi Germany after the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. When the War was over, all of the Soviets who had been taken to Germany were told that Soviet Russia would allow them to come home. They find out, though, that the Soviet Union really considers them all traitors for leaving Russia (even though they didn't have a choice), and they were be imprisoned upon return. So, did Emmi and her family escape? Well, you'll just have to go read the book to find out.
Returning to Irena's story.
Irena (who is played by Saoirse Ronan) says her parents were Polish Communists. I assume they lived in Warsaw, but I don't remember this ever actually being confirmed. Regardless, they moved their family to Moscow to be around fellow Communists (just like one big, happy family of Comrades from all over the world!). But, Mother Russia had other, more devious plans. The Soviets accused them of being spies from Nazi Germany, and had them arrested. Irena and her brother were taken to an orphanage (images from the movie Hugo flash through my mind at this point). Needless to say, she escaped. Eventually. Yup. That's the Communist Soviet Union for you.
Also consistent with history is when Mr. Smith calls Irena's bluff (she has a back-up story). She claims to have lived on a farm near Warsaw when the Soviets came. Tragedy strikes, she's captured by Russians, so on and so forth. But, as Mr. Smith points out, Warsaw was never under Soviet control. Warsaw was taken by Germany when Hitler invaded. I looked this up to confirm it after watching the movie.
Busted!
Regardless of why she went there, she happens to be in Siberia and run into the six remaining escapees, Janusz, Mr. Smith, Valka (Colin Farrell), Voss, Zoran, and Tomasz. Together, they break snow, ice, mesquites, deserts, dust storms, and all kinds of other things. Of the seven fugitives, only three actually make it to their destination (India).
Other examples of how messed up the Soviet Union was.
Janusz (Jim Sturgess) is unjustly accused of spying. To his credit, he doesn't sign the confession. Not to his credit, his wife gets tortured in his place. This isn't his fault, though. That's just how messed up The Soviet Union is. Later on, though, we discover that pretty much the same thing happened to Mr. Smith; the false accusation and the torture of a close family member. So, it turns out, the two of them have some sort of connection, and are able to talk about it a little. A little, mind you.
One other prisoner remarks that he was arrested for playing an aristocrat in a movie. The Soviets accused him of glorifying the former something or other. That whole thing gets him 10 years in Siberia.
Even crazier is Valka. The guy's a prisoner in a Soviet gulag, but he's got a picture of Stalin and Lenin tattooed on his chest. He tells his fellow escapees, "Don't you know what 'Stalin' means, funny man? Means man-of-steel. He takes from rich, and gives to poor." Crazy.
I love Zoran's response, though: "Yes, of course he does. Then he takes both of them, and puts them in a Gulag for 25 years." Sad, but true.
Epic Quote: [as they cross the border from Russian into Mongolia] "Thank you, Mother Russia, for your hospitality. But I will definitely not be coming back."
That made me laugh. Pretty hard. So hard that I rewind the movie and watched it again. And then, turned on the computer and wrote it down for this blog post.
The film is a display of no-nonsense filmmaking. It jumps from one clip to another between the important scenes or conversations — brief clip of cooking, brief clip of eating, brief clip of someone waking someone else up, and then more walking — which, in its own artistic way, shows the passage of time as a sort of graceful monotony it probably felt like to the real people. After all, it's hard to squash 4000 miles of walking into a 2 hour movie. Although I thought some of the jump-cuts were kind of sudden, I thought the filmmaking aided the story. The jumps-cuts, I felt, were almost artistically necessary to tell the story in a timely manner.
Also, we hardly see any repeat scenes. We see two people's funerals, and a third one is summarized by a shot of a trail of footprints leading away from a third person's grave. Death is never taken lightly in the movie, even though it occurs rather frequently in the gulag. Valka is the only person who makes light of one person's death, saying, "One less mouth to feed." His other five companions give him an icy death stare in response.
Now, before you all run out to rent the movie for history/movie night with the family, this is not a film for young children. It's rated PG-13 for a reason. Language and inappropriate content are brief, but they are still there. But, I still highly advice reading the Plugged In movie review before watching: http://www.pluggedin.com/videos/2011/q2/wayback.aspx
At least two guys get stabbed. People drop dead during a snowstorm. A man is shown having frozen to death. Several people drop from heat stroke in the desert (heat is a foreign thing in Siberia). Oh, and there's a rather large poisonous snake, for those of you who have snake-phobia (like me). Aside from people dropping dead, various people being held at gun point, and mentioning of other people getting fingers and heads cut off, and being strangled by barbed wire, the language and inappropriate content are not suitable to children and teenagers.
My advice: DO NOT watch this movie with children. In fact, I probably wouldn't watch it until you're an adult. If you watch it yourselves, have the fast forward button ready until after they escape the gulag. After that, there's really only two swear words and one crude conversation. Most of the inappropriate stuff happens in the gulag.
My advice to adults who wish to watch this movie: If you have a movie filter (such as TV Guardian or Clear Play), I would highly suggest watching this movie with the filter. If you do not have a filter, be aware of the content issues before viewing, and have the fast forward button ready until after they escape the Gulag.
