As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me (2001)

We will probably never know what actually happened with the prototype of the story. They way it is told here is just, er, ridiculous.Seems like the camp comendant drops everything and follows the hero to the very end of his journey. The hero changes his clothes so many times... how does he shave? At least occasionally, he is shaved.The idea that he could escape the trap by just jumping on a train... that's Indiana Jones. We were supposed to listen to a true story.Anybody checked whether there's a railroad to Chukotka? But most of all, I don't know how about the general public, but a hero that was executing guerillas... he is just a war criminal. The fact that the German public kind of sympathises with him, it is pretty sad.In short - it is full of lies.

The nausea of war in a movie should convey some equal leap into the barbarism on both sides. But here, we have hapless members of the Wehrmacht, which burned villages to the ground and raped and plundered, cast in cardboard: sympathetic victims. I appreciate what war does to the human psyche of initially idealistic people. And I appreciate the limitations involved in a film budget. Too many people do not know the huge fate of the German kids in the hands of Russian victors. Then again, few know the huge fate of Russians in the hands of the Wehrmacht and the SS: the same abuse, the same starvation. Just a different uniform, another language. This movie is soap-opera dribble. It could have had more context and thus, in an art sense, a much more cohesive tragedy.

Filmed with a good budget and production and attention to detail, it has many scenes that could summarily describe this as See the Soviet Republics On Foot travelogue. To make the narrative more attractive to viewers, many dramatic circumstances were re-enacted, which are highly implausible. For example, when walking the bridge on the Iran-USSR border, and meeting with the soviet lager commandante. Or when jumping off the train, and finding himself face-to-face with the commandante.The narrative, too, suffers from an obvious linearity. It would have been much more interesting if it had flashbacks. Andrej Waida comes to mind in using this narrative, specially when merging the new with the old in Poland/Germany locales/stories.The ending is melodramatic. It seems too much of an Hollywood style made-for-TV happy ending. John Turturro in the movie La Tregua, also about the long trip back home after years in the concentration camps, depicts a much more plausible and realistic psychological state of mind. What is depicted in this motion picture is hardly believable, and I am sure some executive producers who had the power to change the original script to make it more conforming to the expectations of the audience masses, made script changes that actually diminished the power of this potentially-strong motion picture."you must learn to trust again" is the best quote of the movie. Too bad characters like the one that said this have not been developed elsewhere in this production.

Atlast the wait is over, we see a German POW portrayed in good sense,up against all obstacles,hurdles a human could ever tolerate.Its about Clemens Forell(POW)making his way all through the feet to him hometown. I donna want to spoil the plot by detailing the events.The film scores in its background & theme music,adds Chilling effect to the frozen sheet.The exotic locations is visual treat for eyes. Irina Pantaeva locks you in her charm and beauty.Even though the film ends in a positive note,you will suffer from the DISTANT WALK.This film made me look beyond the horizon Hollywood, and ignited a liking for German movies.A great movie if you have the TIME. If you like this movie you will also like THE GREAT ESCAPE(pow classic)