Film Review: As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (So weit die Füße tragen, 2001)

History in the past few centuries suggests that invading Russia is, more often than not, a bad idea. The protagonist of As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me, a 2001 German adventure film directed by Hardy Martins, is one of many individuals who suffered the consequences of such a decision. The plot begins in 1944, during the Second World War, and the protagonist is Lieutenant Clemens Forrell (played by Bernhard Bettermann), a Wehrmacht officer who is about to be sent to the Eastern Front. Before his departure, Forrell promises his family that he will do anything in his power to return, but this proves very unlikely when, a year later, Germany loses the war and Forrell is captured by the Red Army. The Soviets put him on a mock trial over alleged war crimes and sentence him to twenty-five years in prison, which he is to serve in a gulag situated near Cape Dezhnev on the Chukotka Peninsula, the easternmost tip of Siberia. Forrell, who, like many other German prisoners, suffers from cold, hunger, and abuse by guards, becomes convinced that he can survive only if he escapes. After one failed attempt, an opportunity for another is provided by Dr. Stauffer (played by Michael Mendl), a physician who has meticulously planned and prepared for the long journey but is terminally ill with cancer and knows that he won’t return home. Instead, he gives up his plan to Forrell, who promises that he will visit his wife back in Germany. Forrell escapes and begins a long and difficult trek in a southwestern direction, experiencing all kinds of adventures that involve encounters with Chukchi natives and Russian gold prospectors. Despite all odds, and despite being pursued by NKVD Lieutenant Kamenev (played by Anatoliy Kotenyov), the camp commander who has taken Forrell’s escape very personally, he manages to reach Soviet Central Asia three years later. There, while attempting to cross the border into Iran, he receives unexpected help from Igor (played by Aleksandr Efremov), a Jewish man who takes pity on him despite his own family being wiped out by Germans during the war.

The film is based on the 1955 novel by Josef Martin Bauer, a Bavarian writer who had been a Nazi propagandist during the war. The novel, based on the allegedly true story of German officer Cornelius Rost, was adapted for West German television as a six-part miniseries in 1959. The new version mostly ignores political issues, which are only briefly mentioned at the beginning when German prisoners en route to Siberia discuss their fate, and one of them states they all had it coming because of the atrocities German forces committed during the war. What follows is an old-school epic that combines elements of the prison and adventure genres into a neat and easily digestible package, transforming the complicated story about World War II and its political aftermath into a simple tale about a man trying to return to his family. Hardy Martins had a decent budget at his disposal and directs the film well, making good use of the locations in Finland and Uzbekistan. The acting is very good, including Bernhard Bettermann as the protagonist and Anatoliy Kotenyov, a Belarusian actor best known for playing Yeltsin in the late seasons of The Crown, as his formidable opponent. Although the ending seems semi-ironic, with the protagonist having to spend additional time in an Iranian prison under suspicion of being a Soviet spy, As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me is generally a satisfying experience that could be recommended to fans of period adventure. Those who want to watch true stories, however, would do well to look elsewhere. Extensive research, based on Soviet archives opened after the end of the Cold War and major factual errors in Bauer’s original text, has concluded that Bauer’s and Rost’s claims were fictional. This is the same issue that affected The Way Back, a 2010 film directed by Peter Weir, which told a similar story about Polish prisoners of Stalin-era gulags.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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