The Railway Man - Die Liebe seines Lebens

Last week I saw American HUSTLE and couldn't understand why the critics have so raved about it. Yesterday I saw THE RAILWAY MAN and can't understand why the critics have been so dismissive. It's a tense story about one of the great horrors of World War Two. Based on a true story, it's also a tale of love and redemption, two of the cinema's (and literature's) greatest themes. And it serves up a vivid reminder that the Japanese of the 1940s were, like the Nazis, from a different generation, almost from a different race.

David Lean's BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI casts a huge shadow over this movie. THE RAILWAY MAN lacks the "majesty" of Lean's famous epic, but I suspect that Alex Guinness's performance would seem very theatrical by the standards of screen acting today. If anything, Colin Firth gives a slightly under-powered performance (and Nicole Kidman's part gives her too little to work with), but Jeremy Irvine is intensely believable as the wartime Lomax, geeky and quietly heroic. The horrors of the forced labour that built the railway and the relentless brutality of the Japanese soldiers are both vividly conveyed, and the ending manages to be poignant without trespassing into mawkishness.

This is a strange movie, grim but highly watchable. Arguably, it could have been tougher, more savage, but then it might be harder to sit through.

Had the opportunity to see this at its world premiere in Toronto tonight, where we were joined not only by the stars, but also by Patti Lomax, the wife of the real-life Eric Lomax, on whose autobiography this film was based.

The story is unique and interesting, and is told with a series of flashbacks to Eric Lomax, our protagonist's (Firth), experiences of WW2. As the film is set in fairly dreary locations (prison camps and drab apartments), it's not the most visually exciting thing to watch, and the edit/pacing leaves a bit to be desired - at several points, we find the present-day Eric Lomax (Firth) suddenly transported back to his POW camp in Asia without anything to clue us off as to whether he travelled there (a single plane shot would've done it) or, as in at least one case, is hallucinating.

Still, a good story and well acted by Firth with support from Nicole Kidman as his wife - although the real show-stealers are Jeremy Irvine as young Lomax, and Hiroyuki Sanada as Nagase, the Japanese translator and Lomax's tormentor.

This is arguably one of the best WW2 films I have ever seen. There aren't many films that tell the story of the situation outside of Europe and this tells it brilliantly. Collin Firth portrays the emotional struggle of a man plagued by the war extremely well, and I was gripped from start to finish. I've been to Thailand and this was possibly why I was so affected by the film, but I thought it was extremely touching and thought provoking. The story affected me to the point of tears (as no other film has ever done). There is so much depth and beauty to the film and characters and I think it's a shame it hasn't been rated higher.

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.

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.