Australian filmmaker Peter Weir returns with The Way Back, a WWII epic about a disparate group of prisoners that escapes from a Siberian labor camp to journey thousands of miles across hostile and treacherous terrain.
A story of survival and the power of the human spirit, the film is inspired by The Long Walk: The Story of a Trek to Freedom — a ghost-written bestseller about Slavomir Rawicz, a Polish Army officer captured by the Soviets after the invasion of Poland in 1939. Rawicz claimed he escaped from the Gulag in 1941 with six other prisoners, but the veracity of the story has come into question since his death in 2004.
The independently financed film was shot on location in Bulgaria, Morocco, and India, and boasts outstanding performances by Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Saoirse Ronan, and Jim Sturgess. Six-time Academy Award nominee Weir was a key player in Australian New Wave cinema before heading to Hollywood to make films like Witness, Dead Poet’s Society, The Truman Show, and Master and Commander. After being absent from the limelight for the last seven years, he proves with The Way Back that he’s still one of the great cinematic storytellers of our time.
Visit the film’s official website, order the soundtrack
, watch an interview with Weir about the film, check out a vintage clip of Weir and Harrison Ford on the set of Witness, and explore other films
by the legendary filmmaker.
Click through below for a gallery of images and clips from the film.
Life in the Gulag in Peter Weir’s The Way Back
Valka (Colin Farrell) threatens Janusz (Jim Sturgess) with a knife in Peter Weir’s The Way Back
Janusz (Jim Sturgess) leads the men through a snowstorm in Peter Weir’s The Way Back
The cast and crew prepare for the next shot in Peter Weir’s The Way Back
The group encounters wild wolves in Peter Weir’s The Way Back
Mr. Smith (Ed Harris) forms a bond with Irena (Saoirse Ronan) in Peter Weir’s The Way Back
The Way Back – Crossing the river
Irena (Saoirse Ronan) relaxes under a make-shift shelter in Peter Weir’s The Way Back
The Way Back – Sandstorm