READ MORE- Colin Farrell’s role in ‘The Way Back’ one of his least favorite

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Irish duo Colin Farrell and Saoirse Ronan’s latest film ‘This Way Back’ has been described by critics as brilliant and wildly under-appreciated.

The film is on limited release for Oscar purposes and is not generally available in the U.S. yet  but has opened overseas

The New Republic has called it ‘the Best Film of 2010” and noted ….”in this astonishing story of a 4,000-mile journey as some prisoners escaped from the gulag in Siberia and walked to India, the stress is not just on the terrible times and the exhausting ordeal. It is also a film that says this is 
a miraculous world, and the people in it are no less amazing. That view is not fashionable, I suppose, and so the best movie of 2010 is being badly neglected.”

The Guardian Newspaper noted that The Way Back is “a robustly made picture, heartfelt, well executed with an exhilarating sense of reach and narrative ambition.”

 Peter Weir’s film tells the harsh story of survival and personal compromises made along the way. It follows a group of prisoners who escape from the gulag in Siberia in 1940 and attempt to make the 4,000 mile trek to India.

Farrell plays Valka, one of the soldiers who manages to escape. Ronan plays Irena, a young Polish woman who the escaped prisoners meet along the way. The only female protaganist, she manages to lift the men’s spirits as she joins them on their journey.

The film is based on the book by Slavomir Rawicz, The Long Walk: The True Story of a trek to Freedom. The book became an international best seller before research by the BBC revealed that Rawicz had in-fact been released from the gulag in 1942.

Shot on location in Bulgaria, Morocco and Indie, Weir takes the audience on a rare journey concluding in the foothills of India.

Weir is best known for his work in films including "Master and Commander", "The Truman Show" and "Fearless", “Dead Poets Society” and “Witness”.

“The Way Back” goes on general U.S. release on January 21.