Australian writer-director Peter Weir will always be
remembered as one of the greatest filmmakers of our lifetime, having churned
out such masterful pictures as Picnic at
Hanging Rock, Witness, Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show over the course of his
career. Nominated for the Best Director
Academy Award for The Truman Show,
Weir was hitting his stride as a major industry player at the top of his
game. But after the 2003 gargantuan epic
war-at-sea period piece Master and
Commander: The Far Side of the World once again made a splash critically
and commercially, Weir’s productivity slowed down considerably before grinding
to a screeching halt with his 2010 WWII prison escape drama The Way Back.
An ensemble period piece characterized by endurance,
The Way Back is loosely based on
Polish POW Slawomir Rawicz’s 1956 memoir The
Long Walk detailing his alleged escape from a Soviet Gulag before embarking
on a 4,000 mile trek to freedom.
Prominently featuring Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell and Saoirse
Ronan, this expensive widescreen epic garnered an Academy Award nomination for
Best Makeup yet passed viewers unnoticed, signaling the end of Weir’s career in
film. Tragically a commercial failure
resulting from a bleak premise, the film is still representative of all of the
director’s trademarks with particular emphasis on the physicality of the rugged
terrain and the depths of the human spirit in the face of adversity.
Shot by frequent Weir collaborator Russell Boyd who
took home an Oscar for his work on Master
and Commander, The Way Back has
all of the grandiose visual splendor of some of David Lean’s finest 70mm panoramic
widescreen epics. Boasting stunning location
photography in Bulgaria, Morocco and India, that this didn’t garner another
nomination for Mr. Boyd is stupefying as it is undoubtedly the film’s strongest
asset. Even if Weir’s final film doesn’t
resonate with you quite as strongly as some of his others, you’ll still be
wowed by the breathtaking cinematography on display here.
Sonically the film boasts a moving orchestral score
by Burkhard Dallwitz, best known for his work on Weir’s The Truman Show with Philip Glass.
Some of the most emotionally involved sequences in the film are given
just the right amount of musical presence without becoming overbearing. Weir is no stranger to creating striking soundtracks for films and with The Way Bay being a survival film, a great deal of
attention is paid to the film’s sound design positing the viewer
in hard winter snowstorms or deathly deep silence. With the sound makes you feel the
harsh heavy winds of seasonal and sea level changes, your left feeling blown out of your seat.
The Way Back features strong, memorable performances from all the
cast members though no singular character takes center stage in the piece. Ed Harris, who left an indelible impression
as the creator of The Truman Show, gives
one of his most physically demanding performances since his work on James
Cameron’s The Abyss. Saoirse Ronan is always good and her turn as a
resourceful survivor will remind some of Rebecca De Mornay’s turn in Runaway Train. Characterizations are broadly drawn but
as the film progresses the overarching theme becomes less about an individual person
than individuals banding together to survive.
What appears to be the last film of Peter Weir doesn’t
damage or change his legacy as one of Australia’s greatest directors. For a filmmaker of Weir’s caliber, The Way Back proves to be as ambitious
as anything the director has ever attempted despite never truly reaching the
artistic heights of his earlier works.
Where films like Picnic at Hanging
Rock and The Truman Show
represent home runs for the director, The
Way Back gains a lot of momentum before ending on a bit of a whimper. Weir stumbles somewhat on The Way Back, a picture for Weir that’s
a good but not great way to go.
--Andrew Kotwicki