In 1940 a small group of prisoners decided to escape from a Siberian labor camp. For these men from all walks of life, escape from this hell will be only the beginning of the adventure ...
Together they travel over 6000 miles across the Siberian tundra ice, crossing the plains of Mongolia, furnaces in the Gobi desert and the peaks of the Himalayas to cross the Great Wall of China. Some
stop along the way, others will not survive the tests. India - then under British control - is the ultimate goal.
But the road is long, risky encounters, the appalling physical conditions, and each has its secrets ...
Eight years is the time it took to wait to review a film by Peter Weir on screens. It must be said that after the commercial failure of Master and Commander, less than 100 million of revenue in the country of Uncle Scrooge with a budget of 150 million, the Australian director was blown. But obviously, the financiers of Hollywood have short memories because Peter Weir returns to our delight with this adaptation of the novel Slavomir Rawicz, supposedly from a true story ... To our delight? Not quite, unfortunately.
Indeed, if history could give hope for a great movie with adventure, emotion, tragic fates and outstanding, all filmed in beautiful landscapes, the Siberian taiga, the plains of Mongolia, the Gobi desert, the Himalayas, the result is more than disappointing. Peter Weir has shut in an academic who can leave room for emotion. The viewer sees these escapees walk tirelessly, a monotonous and bored with them. It does not happen much and the few episodes are not very interesting. When difficulties arise, our protagonists are still, as if by magic silver bullet that will bail them out. And when at the end, some end up dying anyway, it is in general indifference. Peter Weir never managed to break this bad rhythm in which the film was locked.
The cast, there is Ed Harris, far too rare these days, which replays for 13 years after Peter Weir The Truman Show. Always perfect, it is the only one to succeed at the game Strurgess Jim, I had discovered in Across the Universe, is too smooth. He does what he does little but never convincing. Colin Farrell in the role of a Russian gangster with 2 IQ is not highlighted. His role led him to rant and then it would be the hard, cold and ruthless, he does more laughing than anything else in this caricature of Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises. When the young Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, Lovely Bones) it is transparent.
short, on his return, Peter Weir fired a shot into the water and its paths to freedom are indeed very long. Damage.
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