War never brings good fortune to people on either side: winner or loser. Everyone loses something. And when it is about people, they always suffer. Head of crown changes but not the suffering of people. Some fortunate people in the world never see war and live better life compared to others. These fortunate people get better food, education, life and they can plan for future. But… there is large part around the world who don’t have such liberty. They have to fight for every day survival. They fight for freedom, they fight for food. The fight for survival is never ends in any century. Last century has seen two(!) world wars and almost entire world was affected by these wars. This was the period when worst was at its best.

During that period, there were many people who were living at the edge of death and striving for survival. They were not the people who started war. These people had been dragged into the war and they had to fight in order to take breath. Janusz Wieszczek was one of them. He was polish and captured by Soviet army when Poland was conquered during second world war. He was taken to the Siberia as Prisoner of War (POW) and kept into the Siberia jail with other prisoners, these included criminals also. This was the period of around 1940.

Siberia was traditionally used as place of exile, for severity of winters. It was considered that when any prisoner was taken to the Siberian jail, no one would see the same face again and the prisoner won’t see the world either. That was the impact of Siberia. There was no sophisticated security fencing as Jailer was not affraid of someone to runaway from jail. Breaking out of the jail in Siberia was viewed as foolish step because winter was main and strong guard. If someone tried to break the security and run away from the jail, he would surely be killed either by bullet or winter.

One day, Janusz Wieszczek planned to run away from the jail. He had only one motto - “I wanted to reach my wife, she is already suffering a lot and I want to make her happy. I want to tell her, I am here again to live with you”.

This wish was nothing new or different from what other prisoners wished for, who were parted away from their family because of the war. But what he did to achieve this was extraordinary. He ran away from jail when winter was at its peak and started the journey which was going to be walk of more than 4000 kilometers.

Did he succeed? Did he exceed the expectations? Did he ever reach his country Poland? Did he meet his wife? Well in order to know this you have to watch the movie “The Way Back”. This is the story of Janusz Wieszczek and few other fellow prisoners who decided to cross Siberia and reach to the country which is not under Soviet rule. In order to do that, they choose to walk until they reached their destination.

There are so many reviews written about movie and you can get more details from internet but there are few reasons which make us to watch this one: It is fight for survival and only hope to meet his dear one keeps him going. He never loses his hope. Even in very difficult situation, he doesn’t stop helping others. It tells us that we are watching movie; but there were people in war who really sufferred that what is shown in the movie. We are the one who are in comfort zone and few blessed one who can write and read blogs. In one of the scenes, while talking about chances of death if they break the jail, the main protagonist replies, “Yes, We may die, but we will die free”. Doesn’t this message remind us something which we keep forgeting? At another situation, when one of his companions asks “As long as communists are there in Poland, you can not go back, They will kill, what will you do?”. he replies, “Just keep going until its over, and just keep walking”. Understanding others pain will help us to understand how better life we are living. Even though it is story in backdrop of war, it is not a political or war drama. It is a story of emotions, it is a story of suffering, it is a story of love, it is a story of hope.

After reading this, you must be thinking whether it is fact or fiction? Well, if fact is stranger than fiction, then this is fiction. It is a tribute to those who fought and walked in the hope of reaching their destination - whether it was freedom or to meet their loved ones.

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Thus said Dinesh Gajjar
Published at 11:48 am, Jan 1st 2013