At the Movies with Fatwayne

This is a gritty drama about prisoners who escape the brutalities of a World War 11 Siberian Gulag only to face nature’s uncaring brutality on their 4,000 mile walk to freedom. They are told by the camp commander that “it is not our guns or dogs or wire that forms your prison. Siberia is your prison, all 5 million square miles of it. Nature is your jailer and she is without mercy”. That dude wasn’t jerking their chain as we will find out as we make the journey with the escapees.

Based on a true story, it is often quite painful to watch the suffering that our group is subjected to by this most harsh environment. They go from the freezing temperatures of Siberia through the inhospitable plains of Mongolia and the scortching Gobi desert in their attempt to reach India and their eventual freedom. The audience, safe in their seats, accompany them throughout all 2 hours and 13 minutes of their harrowing trek. Not as easy a task as you might imagine since many of the scenes are rather hard to bear.

The acting is both convincing, strong and well cast. Jim Strugess plays Janusz who is, as are most of the inmates, wrongly imprisoned. He is Polish and he makes friends with an American known as Mr. Smith (Ed Harris). Colin Farrell plays a ruthless criminal/inmate named Valka. The lone female is Irena (Saoirse Ronan) who is a young Polish girl on the run from Soviet Russia.

The group of eight which later becomes nine when Irena joins them, goes through all sorts of trials ranging form the elements to starvation and death from lack of water. It becomes evident that not everyone will survive this epic adventure. This fact alone will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering if your favorite will make it to the end.

The movie is beautifully filmed,  especially since we only have to look at nature’s beauty and not physically endure its reality. It is truly a story of man’s will to survive and live free. It is definitely not a feel good movie even if we are happy for the survivors. I couldn’t get the inhumanity of the story out of my mind for quite a while. Hey, maybe I’m just a softy. You might want to form your own opinion to see if I really am (a softy).

Rated  -  PG13  -

Fatwayne’s Rating  -  

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