The Railway Man

The Railway Man, adapted from the bestselling autobiography, tells the true story of Eric Lomax, a British Army POW who suffered extreme torture at the hands of his Japanese captors during World War II. However when we first meet Lomax (Colin Firth), forty or so years after the War, there is little about him to hint at his terrible past. The film’s dreamlike beginning tells the romantic story of a middle-aged railroad enthusiast and his chance encounter on a train with a beautiful woman (Nicole Kidman). It isn’t until the two wed that we (and she) discover how haunted he is by memories of the War. Lomax’s story is a fascinating one, and the choice to tell it as a mid-life romance as much as a tale of young men at war is smart, especially considering where this narrative leads and the arc this character’s emotions follow. The film consciously recalls classic British films like Brief Encounter and The Bridge on the River Kwai, but it plays much more like an American film from the decade in which much of it takes place--the 1980s.

The picture has an old-fashioned sincerity that may put viewers off, especially because some plot elements feel a bit contrived. It also depicts brutal wartime violence in a frank and realistic manor, yet builds to a rather theatrical and sentimental conclusion. But neither of these issues got in my way, and I found myself consistently moved by the film. Director Jonathan Teplitzky photographs the picture in warm, beautifully composed shots and patiently paces the narrative so that the pieces of the story come together in a lyrical yet logical way. The action effortlessly moves back and forth in time, lingering on certain key sequences and breezing through others in a manor that catches you off guard but feels wholly appropriate. The movie does have one major flaw:  Lomax’s relationship with his wife isn’t sufficiently developed in the second half, which muddles the motivation for the choices he ultimately makes. 

In the past few years, Colin Firth has proved to be one of those actors who come into their own in middle age. His performances in films like A Simple Man, The King’s Speech and especially The Railway Man, all but make me forget his decades of playing period pretty-boys in British costume dramas. Kidman gives her usual solid performance; she may be a bit too cool to play this passionate woman, but she’s clearly meant to recall Noel Coward’s fervent but very proper leading lady Celia Johnson, which she does in effectively subtle ways. Jeremy Irvine plays the young Lomax with compassion and credibility, and Hiroyuki Sanada and Tanroh Ishida bring complexity and nuance to their shared role as the Japanese interpreter Takashi Nagase.