When it comes to politics, things seem to take a completely different turn. The story tells of three men who are running for Communist Russia for a while and there may be other people fleeing with them to get what they want.
Eventually the film itself is something of an endurance test, and not as rewarding as it hopes to be. But it's a worthy venture, earnest and well-produced and occasionally gripping.
[Peter] Weir is marvelously attuned to the natural world but keeps the focus on the human story while acknowledging the power of the natural world, not hostile so much as inhospitable...
This is an impressive production and technical feat, but through most of it, I kept thinking about how difficult the filming conditions must have been, and not about the lives of the men in front of me.
a solid, resonant meditation on survival, on hope, on the value of life in the face of implacable hostility, portrayed memorably by an excellent cast and [Director] Weir's vast, brutal, awe-inspiring landscapes
