The Ice Runner

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zhaan z The Ice Runner is quite a story. One man's journey trying to stay alive. You must be able to infer bits of the story, as there is a scene that takes place entirely in Russian, where the Ice Runner, Jeffrey West learns that the prison he was to be sent to had the reputation of not being surviveable. He manages to end up in a different sort of prison, and there works hard to condition himself for escape. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I've got a soft spot for Cold War movies, especially ones about espionage and betrayal. I'm surprised that I'm the first person to rate this film. The storyline is exciting and the acting is decent. It's hard to find any info about the film on the internet. I saw this movie a long time ago, so my plot summary is a bit sketchy: A Russian-speaking American (Jeffrey West) is caught spying in the USSR. The CIA betrays him and he's sentenced to work at a gulag in Siberia. Knowing that he's good as dead in Siberia, he ends up stealing the identity of a dead prisoner (Ivan Poposki) on the train and is rerouted to a more "pleasant" prison camp. The camp is surrounded by hundreds of miles of wilderness, making escaping virtually impossible. When they're not working, the prisoners are allowed to gamble, drink, and make trips to the local village. West is determined to escape and prepares by running as much as he can. The commander of the camp is a barbaric Stalinist (Kolya) who is suspicious of West from the start. Kolya has Popolski's wife make a trip to the camp to visit him, hoping that she'll reveal his true identity. Instead, she ends up falling in love with West (go figure!). Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Koyla is reluctant to let West go. He brings West to a Siberian camp across the Bering Strait. When the opportunity presents itself, West makes a run for it across the stait, hoping that he'll make it to Alsaka. He eventually collapses from exhaution, but is rescued by some inuits and brought back home. Great movie! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Ice Runner

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