As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me

Bernhard Bettermann in “As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me.”
‘Feet’ carries you into engrossing movie

The opening of "As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me" reminded me a little of one of those 1970s miniseries.
It's the end of World War II. A German soldier is being taken to prison by the Russians . He tells his pregnant wife and little daughter not to worry, he would be home for Christmas.
From there we can forget the TV movie aspect and are taken on an incredible journey that will keep you glued to the screen. It's been awhile since I've been so engrossed in a film. Made in 2001, I hate to admit I wasn't familiar with the movie or the plot. By the way, it is a remake of a 1959 German TV movie.
Clemens Forell, played by Bernhard Bettermann, is the German soldier sentenced to a labor camp in far east Siberia. You know it is cold when Forell, lying in the icy boxcar on his way to the mines, must wiggle free because his body froze to the wall.
If the cold existence on the train isn't enough, the soldiers are forced to walk the rest of the way.
While done on a small budget, there are some heart-in-stomach scenes, like when a horse breaks through the ice and struggles to break free. Already half-dead individuals fall through the ice and struggle with their last breaths to free themselves.
This film, we find out quickly, illustrates just how much the human body and soul can take.
Forell works the mines for four miserable years. A spur-of-the-moment escape attempt finds him in the hole in freezing rain. The hole is pretty much a storm drain, with water flowing over him.
He ends up ill and a doctor, who was stockpiling for his own escape, decides Forell has a better chance. Besides, the doctor, played by Michael Mendl, has cancer.
Now escape is no walk in the woods. This prison doesn't have razor wire or towers. They are in an icy abyss with no civilization for thousands of miles, so those things aren't necessary. Well, you might try getting to Alaska, but the U.S. was allied with Russia at the time and a prisoner would simply be returned.
But Forell decides to take the meager items, some warm clothing, bits of food, a gun and a few bullets, and attempt the escape. Otherwise, he will die in prison. Now this isn't one of those deals where after seven days on the lam he will find himself in a Howard Johnson's with a shave and hot shower. No, this is a year's commitment, he is told
And thus starts a nail-biting journey that pits the former soldier against man, beast and perhaps worst, the elements. It is a sort of "Lassie Come Home" revved up a few notches.
And that expected one-year of running turns to three.
And sort of like "The Fugitive" TV series, Forell has his own Lt. Gerrard, the head of the camp, Oberleutnant Kamenev, played by Anatolly Kotenyov, who continually stalks him.
This is simply the best action, suspense film I have seen in years. It's a testament to what the human brain and body can take and is well worth the more than the two-hour commitment to watch it.
Hey, all told, it was a seven-year commitment for Clemens Forell.

AS FAR AS MY FEET WILL CARRY ME
• Directed by Hardy Martins • Written by Josef Martin Bauer and Bastian Cleve • Runtime: 158 minutes • Not rated but may be too intense for young audiences • 5 stars out of 5