The Way Back
A Polish officer sentenced to a Siberian Gulag forms an uneasy alliance with a cast of doomed prisoners as he battles hallucinations and a desperate plan to escape across Lake Baikal before the brutal winter claims them all.
“Their escape was just the beginning.”
Synopsis
A group of convicts from diverse backgrounds attempts a bold escape from a Siberian labor camp during World War II, setting out on a perilous journey across five nations in a race to achieve freedom and ensure their survival.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 284+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Lee SmithShot by Russell BoydScored by Burkhard Von DallwitzDesigned by John StoddartSound by Ron Bartlett Nm0058897Costumes by Wendy StitesVFX by Tim Crosbie
Box Office
2010 · Box office
📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.8× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$24.2M
US & Canada: $2.7M — 11% of worldwide · International: $21.5M (89%)
Full synopsis
Also known as
- Der lange Wegde
- The Way Back - Der lange Wegde
- Les Chemins de la libertéfr
- (French)Les chemins de la liberté
- (English)The Way Back
- (Bulgarian)Бягството
Release dates around the world5 countries · showhide
- United StatesSep 3, 2010
- NorwayNov 26, 2010
- United Arab EmiratesDec 15, 2010
- IrelandDec 26, 2010
- United KingdomDec 26, 2010
Companies
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Cast & Crew
284 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Jim Sturgess
as Janusz
Ed Harris
as Mr. Smith
Colin Farrell
as Valka
Colin Farrell Nm0268199
as Valka
Dragos Bucur
as Zoran
Alexandru Potocean
as Tomasz
Saoirse Ronan
as Irena
Gustaf Skarsgard
as Voss
Mark Strong
as Khabarov
Sebastian Urzendowsky
as Kazik
Zachary Baharov
as Interrogator
Sally Brunski
as Janusz's Wife, 1939
Supporting cast
20Igor Gnezdilov
as Bohdan
Dejan Angelov
as Andrei
Stanislav Pishtalov
as Commandant
Mariy Rosen
as Lazar
Nikolay Stanoev
as Yuri
Stefan Shterev
as Cook
Yordan Bikov
as Garbage Eater #1
Ruslan Kupenov
as Garbage Eater #2
Nikolay Mutafchiev
as Guard #1
Valentin Ganev
as Guard #2
Anton Trendafilov
as Steam Man
Pearce Quigley
as The Professor
Sattar Dikambayev
as Mongolian Horseman
Termirkhan Tursingaliev
as Young Mongolian Horseman
An Zung Le
as Shepherd
Hal Yamanouchi
as Official
Meglena Karalambova
as Janusz's Wife, 1989
Irinei Konstantinov
as Janusz, 1989
Bhawani Singh
as Policeman - India
Lech Walesa
as Self
Directors
1Writers
3Producers
36Adam Leipzig
executive producer
Alexander Yves Brunner
co-executive producer (as Alex Brunner)
Amine Bouziane
driver: producers, Morocco
Anthos Simon
digital intermediate producer
Bob Harvey
the producers wish to thank
Brian Ganz
the producers wish to thank
Craig A Emanuel
the producers wish to thank (as Craig Emanuel)
Dileep Singh Rathore
line producer: India
Duncan Henderson
Producer, Producers
Ed Borgerding
executive producer (as Edward Borgerding)
Gordon Levin
the producers wish to thank
Guy East
executive producer
Henry Hudson
the producers wish to thank
Jake Eberts
executive producer
Jeremy Child
the producers wish to thank
Jimmy Abounouom
line producer: Morocco
John Ptak
executive producer
Jonathan Schwartz
executive producer
Joni Levin
Producer, Producers
Judy Levin
the producers wish to thank
Karim Abouobayd
line producer: Morocco
Keith R Clarke
executive producer (as Keith Clark)
Lincoln Hall
the producers wish to thank
Marius A Markevicius
associate producer (as Marius Markevicius)
Mohamed Abdelmoumeni
driver: producers, Morocco (as Mohamed Abdelmoumen)
Mohamed Khalaf Al Mazrouei
executive producer (as Mohammed Khalaf)
Nigel Sinclair
Producer, Producers
Peter Weir
Producer
R J Mino
line producer: Morocco
Robert Huberman
line producer: India
Roee Sharon
co-producer (as Roee Sharon Peled)
Scott Rudin
executive producer
Simon Oakes
executive producer
Susan Ganz
the producers wish to thank
Tim Cope
the producers wish to thank
Tobin Armbrust
executive producer
Other crew
219Ian Bird
a' camera dolly grip / key grip
Gillian Hawser
additional casting
Antoaneta Andreeva
additional hair stylist
Anna Andreeva
additional makeup artist
Maria Stankovich
additional makeup artist
Mariana Love
additional makeup artist
Tatyana Tita Sleptsova
additional makeup artist
Nick Breslin
additional sound editor
Ota Bares
animal wrangler
Victor Glushchenko
animator
Anna Hadzhieva
art department coordinator
Delyan Borisov
assistant accountant
Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
Official ratings
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for The Way Back yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for The Way Back yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on The Way Back?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on The Way Back.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for The Way Back yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on The Way BackNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…