Fails the Bechdel test

The Way Back

Name: The Way Back
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by Peter Weir, written by Peter Weir and Keith R. Clarke and Slavomir Rawicz.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

0 / 3

Fails

No 1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.

The film

In 1940, three men attempt to flee the Soviet Union, escaping a Siberian gulag. This movie tells their story and that of four others who escaped with them and a teenage girl, Irena Zielinska, who joins them in flight. The group's natural leader is Janusz Weiszczek, a Pole condemned by accusations secured by torturing his wife, spent much of his youth outdoors, and knows how to live in the wild. They escape under cover of a snowstorm: cynical American Mr. Smith, Russian thug Valka, comedic accountant Zoran, pastry chef Tomasz Horodinsky, who draws, Priest Andrejs Voss, and Polish Kazik, who suffers from night blindness. They face freezing nights, lack of food and water, mosquitoes, an endless desert, the Himalayas, as well as many moral and ethical dilemmas throughout the journey towards freedom.

Released: 21 Jan 2011
Genres: Adventure, Drama, History
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 66 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 4 wins & 5 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Janusz 158 lines, man
Smith 121 lines, man
Valka 72 lines, man
Zoran 68 lines, man
Khabarov 48 lines, man
Voss 33 lines, man
Tomasz 31 lines, man
Irena 29 lines, woman
Bohdan 11 lines, man
Kazik 8 lines, man

Full cast, 27 people

Ed Harris as Mr. Smith
Jim Sturgess as Janusz Wieszczek
Saoirse Ronan as Irena Zielińska
Colin Farrell as Valka
Mark Strong as Andrei Khabarov
Gustaf Skarsgård as Andrejs Voss
Dejan Angelov as Andrei
Dragoș Bucur as Zoran
Sally Brunski as Janusz's Wife, 1939
Alexandru Potocean as Tomasz Horodinsky
Sebastian Urzendowsky as Kazik
Zahari Baharov as Interrogator
Ihor Hniezdilov as Bohdan
Stanislav Pishtalov as Commandant
Mariy Grigorov 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
Hal Yamanouchi as Official
Meglena Karalambova as Janusz's Wife, 1989
Irinei Konstantinov as Janusz, 1989

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 167

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers

Scenes	Women's lines	Men's lines
1 to 4	0	28
5 to 8	0	0
9 to 12	0	44
13 to 16	0	40
17 to 20	0	3
21 to 24	0	19
25 to 28	0	22
29 to 32	0	3
33 to 36	0	30
37 to 40	0	28
41 to 44	0	10
45 to 48	0	17
49 to 52	0	6
53 to 56	0	9
57 to 60	0	22
61 to 64	1	3
65 to 68	0	1
69 to 72	0	11
73 to 76	10	17
77 to 80	6	26
81 to 84	0	6
85 to 88	0	9
89 to 92	4	11
93 to 96	0	21
97 to 100	3	17
101 to 104	2	15
105 to 108	0	9
109 to 112	0	11
113 to 116	0	14
117 to 120	0	17
121 to 124	0	9
125 to 128	4	8
129 to 132	0	6
133 to 136	0	4
137 to 140	0	2
141 to 144	0	3
145 to 148	0	33
149 to 152	0	0
153 to 156	0	1
157 to 160	0	30
161 to 164	0	0
165 to 167	0	0

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 5 are women's.

30 lines from women, 565 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

3 women and 24 men in the cast. 1 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 312 of 636. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 311 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 6% of the words (497), men 94% (8,418). Women have 5% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

Exhibit D: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

5 of the 20 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Peter Weir (man)
Written by: Peter Weir (man), Keith R. Clarke (man)
From the novel by: Slavomir Rawicz (gender not listed)
Produced by: Keith Clark (gender not listed), Peter Weir (man), Nigel Sinclair (man), Joni Levin (gender not listed)
Shot by: Russell Boyd (man)
Edited by: Lee Smith (man)
Music by: Burkhard von Dallwitz (man)
Production design by: John Stoddart (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Wendy Stites (woman)
Cast by: Judith Bouley (woman), Lina Todd (woman), Vicky Wildman (woman), Buffy Hall (gender not listed), Poppy Bourchier (gender not listed), Salaheddine Benchegra (gender not listed) and 1 more