Gavin O’Connor is one of the most underrated and underappreciated directors working today. He consistently puts out decent to great movies with films like Miracle and Warrior being considered classic sports films by many. Now he is teaming with Ben Affleck again after their previous work in The Accountant for a new film called The Way Back. Will this finally be the film that works its way into the public consciousness and makes Gavin O’Connor a household name? Most likely not, but that does not mean the movie is bad. Quite the opposite actually. The Way Back is an excellent look at how someone deals with grief and the steps it takes to get back on track.
The Way Back is about Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck), a construction worker who used to be a high school basketball star. When his former high school offers him the job to be their next basketball coach, Jack reluctantly accepts. Now he must find a way to get this downtrodden team back to its winning ways while also dealing with his own personal issues of a separation and addiction to alcohol. Yes, we have seen this type of story before. A person who suffers from alcoholism uses sports to mask what he is really going through, and this is no different, it is just told in a more effective way. We sympathize with Jack in this film as a man clearly struggling with something. He is not some ex-criminal or lowlife. He is a regular man who has suffered a great loss and has used alcohol to mask the pain. It is a reality way too many people struggle with every day and hits too close to home. We all know that one person who likes a little too much to drink that we wish we could just say the right thing and make it all go away. That is not the case, and it always finds its way back.
What the film is dealing with the most on top of everything is grief. How we deal with a loss when it happens to someone close to us is a process each individual handles differently. Some are able to look at the positive and move forward while others deal with it head-on and go into a depression. Others try to cover the pain with something else, and that usually means drinking. Gavin O’Connor handles this situation so well in The Way Back that he almost mirrors what Jack is going through. He is telling a story about loss that is masking itself as a sports film, and it works in both ways. The sports side of this film is a joy to watch. I experienced high school basketball and watching all the ins and outs of it in this film was very familiar. O’Connor gets you on your feet pulling for this team to rebound and succeed and you get the claps from the audience as a result. Sports films are hard to make today, we have seen them all before, so nothing is surprising. The way this one goes; it may actually surprise you.
The weight of this film rests on the shoulders of one man and would fall flat without a strong performance. There is nothing to worry about with Ben Affleck at the head. Ben gives what might be his best performance to date. He has that fiery passion that a coach needs to rally his team that makes us root for him despite his flaws. We want to play for him and when he messes up, we want to excuse it. What Ben also does, however, is handle the responsibility the dramatic side requires. This film is all too personal for Ben as a man who split from his wife and also suffered from alcoholism. He has been very upfront about his struggles and how he put all that into this film, and it shows. With every sip he takes and beer he grabs you shake your head hoping it is his last. You can see he doesn’t do this for fun, he does it because he feels he has to and is calling for help to make him stop. Nobody ever tells him he has a problem; he goes through the ups and downs all on his own. Ben is heartbreaking and lovable at the same time and this role is deserving of consideration come awards time.
The Way Back is the type of film that is hard not to like. You can go in and have fun with the sports aspect, but you can also relate to the struggle Jack goes through and see where his journey takes him. Gavin O’Connor and Ben Affleck are at the height of their powers here and deliver a knockout product. Does it get slow at times? Sure, it has its faults, but nothing knocks this film off course. It delivers a powerful message that even in the toughest times, there is always a way out and a way back to happiness.
The Verdict