The Railway Man Film Review.

     The Railway Man by Eric Lomax. Film Review.


"Sometimes the hating has to stop." Engraved on Eric Lomax's tombstone.

The film was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2013 and released in the UK in January 2014. Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky and starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine ( War Horse) and Stellan Skarsgard.

The book was published in 1995 and it was a lifelong ambition of Lomax's to retell some extremely harrowing stories of POW beatings and torture during the second world war. The film captures some of his enthusiasm for the railway and his childhood fascination with locomotives but fails to show his passion although the book is far more successful. In other ways too.

Eric was an officer in Singapore until its fall and then he became one of many POWs to be sent by the Japanese to work on the Thai-Burma railway, known as death railway because of the high number of fatalities. I was fortunate to visit the area a few years ago and travel on the same line up to the bridge over the River Kwai. Perhaps fortunate is rather misplaced here?


Eric and his mates have to repair the machinery used to construct the railway. Initially they have a lot of freedom and life is not particularly difficult. They find parts easily and make a rudimentary radio which allows them to follow the allies' victories. It doesn't take the Japanese long to realise what is happening and they discover the radio. The mechanics are treated brutally, including Lomax. Two of them die from their beatings and Lomax is left physically broken as well as mentally traumatised.

 The men are taken to Outram prison where disease is rife. In the film it is Irvine who is subjected to the waterboarding torture and his screams for mother are disturbing.
Takashi Nagase was the Japanese interpreter responsible for Lomax's nightmares. After the war it was always Lomax's intention to track him down and kill him for subjecting him to so much abuse. He meets Patti and falls in love. Without her tenderness it is unlikely he would have pulled through. Post Traumatic Stress was not recognised and therefore not treated. Just like Laura Hilenbrand's Unbroken we learn about the power of forgiveness and how it can heal. The film only touches on these issues. If you can cope with the torture then the book is a must to read.

Jeremy Irvine. The young Lomax.


REVIEW it by Carol Naylor.

Copyright 2014. Permission must be obtained from the author before any reproduction can be made of this article review.

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