The Railway Man
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky.
Cast: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine
Length: 116 minutes
Country: UK/Australia
The Railway Man tells the true story of Eric Lomax, an engineer and railway enthusiast, who was captured and made a POW by the Japanese during the Second World War. Thousands of prisoners of war died under the hands of the brutal Japanese as they were forced into the construction of the Thai-Burma railway, a feat even the British deemed too dangerous. As an engineer, Lomax was able to make a radio with the help of his fellow engineers in secret that allowed them to hear updates from the BBC about the allied progress during the war. However, the Japanese found out and brutally tortured Lomax for what they saw to be an attempt to join with the enemy. Decades later, Lomax is clearly not coping well and his wife Patti attempts to help him, ultimately leading Lomax to journey back to Japan at the site where he was so brutally treated hoping that it helps him to reconcile with his own inner turmoil.
The subject matter of the film, based on the autobiography of the same name, is incredibly moving and shocking. The scenes depicting the 21-year-old Lomax in Japan are incredibly distressing with Jeremy Irvine displaying his inner strength wonderfully. Colin Firth also puts in a strong performance as an older Lomax, especially in the scenes where he returns to Japan. Nicole Kidman and Stellan Skarsgård as Lomax’s wife Patti and friend Finlay are also well cast, yet despite these strong performances I could not help feeling that the film was lacking something.
A film like this had the potential to be incredibly moving, especially due to its cast, but it was all the more frustrating as it didn’t follow through
Considering the incredibly story, the ending in particular being very moving, I felt that the film could have done so much more with this source material, which explores the effects of war on both the British and Japanese side. The films starts with Eric and Patti’s love story leading you into a false sense of security until Eric’s horrific nightmares are revealed. From this point the film explores their life together, showing Patti’s struggle in connecting with her husband as he continues to suffer without talking about what has happened to him. There are many scenes showing Lomax waking up in the middle of the night, covered in sweat, or alone in his study reading about trains. I felt this section dragged a little and could have picked up more, leaving more time to explore the impact of Lomax’s trip to Japan.
The film triumphs in the sequence that sees Lomax return to Japan, allowing the film to really deliver its poignancy. Watching Lomax go back to confront his captor was both tense and moving to watch. Interestingly, the visit also explored the viewpoint of the Japanese illustrating the similar ways in which war affects everyone and even managing to make you feel sympathy for Lomax’s captor, despite his brutality.
When Eric comes home, he tells his wife that he needs to go back again to Japan and that he wants her to go with him. It is at this point that Patti feels part of his life again and not only part of his present, but of his past. These final scenes of them both going back to Japan are the most emotional. However, the rest of the film leads too slowly up to this critical point and although the torture scenes were at times hard to watch, I did not feel that the film emphasised the scale of the story or its truthfulness, enough. A film like this had the potential to be incredibly moving, especially due to its cast, but it was all the more frustrating as it didn’t follow through. In the end, The Railway Man touches upon the fact that no matter what side you fight for, war creates a crippling effect on people, but it’s a shame this point wasn’t fully realised.
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