The Railway Man

I read the short storyline of the film before viewing and it had intrigued me. I came into it with an open mind - at first romance and then the inescapable drama. The acting by Firth was amazing. I was mesmerized. It may be slow (to some of a lesser attention span) at first, but eased into a psychological drama that holds on tight and will not release until the finale. Spectacular cinematography, the scenes are beautiful and real. It is a wake up call to those who have not/do not understand the great span of WWII - brings much needed insight into the history of this particular banker's war. Ultimately, this film beautifully portrays the ultimate power of forgiveness. Which brought tears to my eyes, in the panic and hysteria that the world now feels due to war and terror, it is good to know that there is some shred of humanity that exists and has hope to exist in the future.

War casts long shadows over both nations and individuals and, when the fighting stops, the pain remains. This is the remarkable story of a British officer who became a prisoner of war when the Japanese took Singapore in early 1942, worked on the infamous Burma-Siam railway, and suffered terrible torture for constructing a radio receiver.

Eric Lomax is played by Jeremy Irvine (wartime) and Colin Firth (post-war), while his lead kempei torturer Takeshi Nagase is portrayed by Tanroh Ishida and then Hiroyuki Sanada. Nicole Kidman sports a good English accent (as she did in "The Hours") as Lomax's (second) wife, but the casting of the Swedish Stellan Skarsgård is odd.

This is not a easy film to watch but tells a moving real-life story that is ultimately up- lifting. In the central role, Firth is impressive. Like a good wine, this is an actor who improves with age.

"The Railway Man" is a sober restrained film for much of its running time. Its low key approach makes the torture scenes and the depictions of Eric Lomax's searing post-war nightmares all the more horrifying and unforgettable. The acting is uniformly excellent. The direction and all the technical contributions are admirable. I normally never consciously notice the sound design, but here it contributes intelligently and gently to several episodes. I was particularly fascinated to see Eric and the other signals staff emerging into the sunlight from the underground "Battle Box" headquarters in Fort Canning Park, Singapore. I toured it in 2007; it is now a museum peopled by realistic waxworks of the soldiers, senior and junior, who were there on surrender day, 15th February 1942.

Yet the film has several irritating shortcomings. The title character, Eric, was 61 at the time of the scenes set in 1980. Good as he is, Colin Firth is visibly too young. Perhaps it shouldn't matter, given the power of his performance, but it gets in the way if you try to make sense of the time lapses.

The very down to earth portrayal of Eric's lonely life is immensely touching, as in the scene where his new love Patti wants to scrub clean the cooking pot in his grubby bachelor kitchen. But such practical matter of fact detail inevitably invites down to earth speculation such as "Where does the characters' money come from?" This tiresome little problem hardly matters in more fantastical Hollywood sagas where everyone is filthy rich or in possession of superpowers. Eric is shown to drive a Triumph 2000, a car typically owned by the affluent middle classes of that time. (I have not seen one for years. The Triumph marque disappeared long ago along with much of the British car industry. The equivalent British middle classes now drive BMWs, Mercedes and Audis). This fine car and his neglected house are the only signs that he had a successful and productive working life between 1945 and 1980.

His tormented friend at the veterans club notes how the survivors of the 1940s horrors are now bank clerks, teachers, engineers, retired people; honest productive citizens, whose unsung post war endurance is as admirable as their war time survival. (One of my teachers around 1969 had been a Prisoner of War at Changi Prison in Singapore, but you would never have heard it from him.) Presumably many of these gentle heroes were married, as was Eric. But his failed post-war marriage and two children are unmentioned in the movie. As are Patti's three children. Somehow, despite a failed marriage, she has the cash to tour Britain. The fact that she had been married is barely hinted at (she describes herself as single again). The fact that the real Patti lived in Canada for many years is unmentioned.

Even a passing mention of the characters' histories could have considerably enriched the film. As it stands, it feels as if they were dropped into the story from Mars.

In his book "Hollywood vs America", the critic Michael Medved noted the inviolable barrier between Church and Studio in most Hollywood films. The same deep rooted reluctance to mention spiritual matters, even when they are relevant to the characters, is very evident in this film. The only sign of the prisoners' religious leanings in this real Valley of the Shadow of Death is the recitation of a Psalm in one scene. Eric's deep Christian faith helped him through the nightmare and perhaps lead to his forgiveness of his tormentor decades later. He carried a Bible for decades during and after his imprisonment until it was utterly worn.

You can get the background story from the book. For the price of a cinema ticket, it is much better value for money. You get at least a limited sense of the vanished Britain of the 1920s and 1930s when Eric grew up. The lovingly described details of the social and industrial environment that formed him make sense of how this man came to be a survivor. A new preface in the movie tie-in edition describes how Eric did not want to see the finished film; he died before it was released. If he had seen it, he might have pointed out, in the most polite manner, how much of the really important story had been left out.

As some readers may have noticed, I tend to like 'small' films-- independent movies made on small budgets that emphasize fine acting and excellent scripts as opposed to action and special effects. There are, of course, many exceptions. For example, I just saw a film that has terrific writing, wonderful acting and yet was made with some very familiar and high-priced stars--and, sadly, most folks didn't see it when it came to the theaters. Fortunately, "The Railway Man" was just released on DVD and Netflix brought it out this week--so you have no excuse not to see it yourself.

"The Railway Man" is based on a true story written by Eric Lomax about himself and his experiences following World War Two. During the war, he was a prisoner of the Japanese and suffered tremendous torture and privations. Not at all surprisingly, he suffered through the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for years and his way of coping with it was to ignore it and pretend that not of it every happened. He refuses to talk about it and instead seems to talk about many dull things (such as railway timetables) instead of what was destroying him inside. Not surprisingly, it threatened to ruin his second marriage. So, not wanting to continue living this way, Lomax set about taking his recovery seriously--and the first thing he planned to do was find the Japanese soldier responsible for brutalizing him when he was in the prisoner of war camp. What's next? See the film--I really don't want to tell you too much and spoil what is to follow.

The film stars Colin Firth as Eric and Nicole Kidman as his wife, Patti. I am not sure how the studio got the services of two talented Oscar- winners like these two, but regardless, director Jonathan Teplitzky's job was sure a lot easier given these fine actors--though he also showed a very deft hand with the film despite his relative lack of experience. As for the plot, the screenplay was, as I mentioned above, based on Lomax's book and really pulls you into his life and struggles. But, like many films, a few liberties were taken with his actual life story. In the film, Eric's first marriage and children were never mentioned, for example. However, the basic story is there and the film team managed to create a tremendously moving film--one that got better and better as the film progressed. While it might look like a romance, this is only a small portion of the movie and viewers should be warned--there are a few intense images you see in Eric's flashbacks--imaged of the ghastliness of war and war crimes. This is why the film is rated R, though I really think it is appropriate to show to teens provided you watch it with them and discuss what you've seen. All in all, a great example of a film with a bigger budget and some very big name actors who managed to impress me--though it somehow failed pretty miserably in the box office. Perhaps it wasn't marketed well, perhaps folks were put off by the idea of a man suffering with PTSD...all I know is that for Firth and Kidman, it's among the best work they've ever done and is an incredibly moving film. See this one.

Words cannot do this film justice. There are no words to describe how amazing the true story of Eric Lomax really was, and I do not want to give away the entire story here. But suffice to say that I was fully engrossed in the film throughout its entirety. From the moment we see Eric and Patty meet to the emotional ending,I could not bring myself to look away or even to reach down for my drink in the cinema. Be prepared for some harrowing and intense scenes. But bear in mind that these are required for us to understand completely the dilemma faced by Eric at the end of his story. The actors portray their characters beautifully, with so much angst and emotion that I found myself empathising with them all the way through. If you are interested whatsoever in stories of war, survival, trauma, revenge, forgiveness and the ethical dilemmas wrapped up in them all, then this is a film you should definitely see. Tears rolled down my face as the credits rolled, and I found myself thinking about the movie long after watching it. Highly recommended.