But when the nightmares are witnessed and the new husband refuses to talk about it, Patti knows she has her work cut out for her, especially as Eric retreats back into his protective, distancing shell. The film opens innocuously enough as a love story in which Patti and Eric meet on a train ensuing in a rapid-fire marriage. He doesn’t flinch from the job and delivers a gripping tale that is disturbing and moving. Teplitzky (director of the excellent 2011 film, Burning Man) had a challenge in recreating the story of a man still alive (Lomax died just before the film was completed) in a way that showed both the horror and the inspiration of Eric’s journey. Opposing man’s inhumanity to man with the power of love, this moving and inspirational true tale, based upon Eric Lomax’s memoirs, addresses a particularly brutal episode from World War II, one especially close to the hearts of many Australians. Part of this catharsis may be to confront his wartime tormentor, Takashi Nagase (Tanroh Ishida). When he unexpectedly meets and marries the much younger Patti (Nicole Kidman), she is determined to rid him of his demons. Years later he is a haunted man, suffering nightmares and taking solace in his obsession for all things to do with trains. The Railway Man offers a gripping reminder with a stirring story of the legacy of war and the future soldiers faced when their tour of duty finally came to an end.Synopsis: Eric Lomax (Colin Firth) was one of thousands of Allied prisoners forced by their brutal Japanese captors to work on the notorious Thai/Burma Railway. No one should ever forget the sacrifices soldiers made in order for us to live our lives. It’s an uncomfortable journey the viewer goes on but the conclusion provides a thoughtful coda to the memories former soldiers carry. Whilst occasionally descending into melodrama, the central premise is effectively conveyed. There are no right or wrong absolutes in most conflicts which is something The Railway Man’s characters discover. The performances from Firth and Sanada in these scenes are genuinely gripping – you can feel the emotional depths their characters plunge into.Īided by this emotional complexity, Jonathan Teplitzky’s direction ensures both men’s journeys are examined. His meeting with Takashi offers hope he can move on but their fateful meeting changes them.
How he heals them forces a host of moral questions he must answer. The horrors Lomax faced were brutal and extreme with the scars being carried for a life-time. The Railway Man is an engrossing exploration of redemption and forgiveness. Finally receiving the chance to discard his demons, Eric discovers all is not what it seems in his quest for justice. Aided by his wife Patti (Nicole Kidman), and his friend and fellow POW Finlay (Stellan Skarsgard), he finds one of his captors, Japanese officer Takashi (Hiroyuki Sanada). Scarred by his experiences as a POW in Japan during World War 2, he decides to track down one of his tormentors.
Haunted by the ghosts of his past, Eric Lomax (Colin Firth) seeks to exorcise them. Based on a memoir by former British officer Eric Lomax, it effectively exposes how survival can create its own ongoing burdens.
The Railway Man explores the ongoing post-traumatic stress from a war-time event. The deaths caused and trauma felt by those who survived its ravages have become an important aspect of such remembrances. Whenever ANZAC day is commemorated we pause to reflect on the horrors of war.
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