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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Stranger From Lagos by Cyprian Ekwensi

Image
  image courtesy of Google images   Ekwensi was born in Nigeria in 1921. He wrote about the country and people of Nigeria-city life and life in the rural areas. Loko Towns and Other Stories was published in 1966. A Stranger From Lagos was one of the nine stories in that collection.   The writer explores the place of women in society. Lilian is trapped by social conventions. Her fiance treats her like a possession as if he owns her. It is written in third person to allow the writer's thoughts to merge with Lilian's. The protagonist is unable to speak to the stranger in public although it is obvious that there is a strong physical attraction between the two. If Lilian asserts herself she will go against social conventions (for females) and her reputation will be damaged through rife and unhealthy gossip. She will therefore be stigmatised as a loose woman. The story explores her inner conflicts in accepting these "conventions" or flaunting them as well ...
Read more

A Stranger From Lagos by Cyprian Ekwensi Final Part

Image
                                                                    courtesy of Google images Lilian uses her sexuality to liberate as well as attract the opposite sex. Ekwensi uses "wiggled." Lilian had just had her hair done and was wearing very large, loop earrings. This had been done for her lover's benefit. She was conscious of all the eyes watching the two of them. The writer uses the simile: she felt like something projected on a 3D screen for all Onitsha to view. We are told very little about the stranger other than that he was tall and good-looking. We are told he didn't feel embarrassed by all of the attention. He would ruin her reputation...
Read more

A Bit of Singing and Dancing by Susan Hill

Image
Here you'll find 11 varied but intense stories about emotional struggles of ordinary people trying to get to grips with life. For some unfortunates, the adjustment is too great and tragedy is inevitable, something very characteristic of Hill's writing as many of you will already know. A Bit of Singing and Dancing is less dramatic and not quite so tragic. I can stay out here just as long as I like, I can do anything I choose, anything at all, for now I am answerable only to myself. Esme is still coming to terms with her mother's death and her new-found freedom. She is over 50 years of age and has reluctantly been forced into caring for her forthright and domineering bedridden mother for 11 years prior to her death. She had been half-alive satisfying her mother's needs and repressing her own needs and desires. Her mother's death had given her a new lease of life, an unexpected freedom which also attracted fear and bewilderment to someone who had been so sheltered...
Read more