# The Way Back

> Never has the old adage about the journey being more important than the destination applied to a story

By Adrian Drayton · 16 July 2011 · Reviews / Gaming

Canonical: https://insights1.uca.org.au/articles/the-way-back/

## **(M) Roadshow DVD/BD**

Never has the old adage about the journey being more important than the destination applied to a story in the way it has been in *The Way Back*.

Inspired by Slavomir Rawicz’s acclaimed novel *The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom* as well as other real life accounts, director Peter Weir’s *The Way Back* is a remarkable adventure chronicling the escape of a small group of multinational prisoners from a Siberian gulag in 1940 and their epic life-affirming journey over thousands of kilometres, through five hostile countries.

History has taught us a lot about the Nazi concentration camps but less about the Russian internment camps during World War II. Twenty million prisoners of war were interned in these camps and endured unimaginable hardships.

There is no Hollywood gloss on this film; only Weir’s obsessive attention to detail and reverence for his subject matter.

A compelling story about a little-known time in history.

**Adrian Drayton**