The Railway Man

I'm looking forward to seeing this film I read the book a few years ago when it won The Bookers award it did move me very much at the time and know I will have to make sure I have a supply of hankies with me when I go to the cinema next week.

I've just downloaded the book on my e-reader and I'm looking forward to reading it. Until the film I hadn't heard of it.

Rather slated in the Independent film review but, as they'd raved about Robert Redfords 'All is Lost' which must rank as one of the most boring films I've ever seen I shall ignore them [was planning to see it anyway]. Also 12 Years a Slave. Going to be a good week for cinema going, I think.

Article about the "real" man in yesterdays Telegraph, have saved it to read later.

Its a good read phoenix

I plan to read the book as well. The Observer film critic described it as "clunky" but good in parts. He raved about 12 years a slave though. We'd planned to see that, but it isn't on locally until next week. I plan to take hankies to that one.

I'd like to see this film, along with 12 Years A Slave, although I have heard they are both harrowing particularly, the latter I hate lingering torture scenes, it's a bit of dilemma when you know a film will be particularly good but also know the brutal bits could possibly be the stuff of nightmares, but I guess that's the nature of both of the subject matters. Also went to see American Hustle the other week, good acting but somewhat lightweight, I imagine, in comparison to many of the other heavily nominated films around at the moment.

To reassure you BAnanas, no lingering torture scenes in Railway, I felt shocked and upset at times, but only covered my eyes once. 12 Years a Slave sounds much more harrowing, but just fantastic so I'll breathe deeply and take a hankie

Brilliant film, I agree Iam64. My DH had already read the book before we saw the film and had given me the whole story in advance (maybe just incase I didn't get it). I have to admit I cried in the end although not sure who for.

Yes, I cried at the end, so did Mr iam. I remembered being taken to see Bridge over the River Kwai by my gran, I was 8 or 9, so much too young to appreciate it. She responded to my moaning, by telling me that my daddy (her son) fought in that war so to 'think on'.
My mum was in the ATS and said the horror of the war was really only brought home to them when footage of the liberation of the concentration camps was released. In addition, the camp she was in became home for men returning from working on the Burma Railway - she said they had to be housed in huts well away from everyone else, because their screams woke everyone up at night, and terrified them. She said those young men were so damaged by what happened to them. No wonder we wept gillybob. We've been such a lucky generation, not to have been conscripted to fight in the way our parents and grandparents were.

Terribly sad Iam64. We cannot even begin to imagine what it was really like can we? I heard some harrowing stories from my grandad (although he never ever went into graphic details) but as a child you don't appreciate the true horror of it all do you? I think perhaps I was crying for Eric Lomax and how he was able to forgive the person who tortured him. It left me wondering would I be so forgiving? I would like to hope so.

My youngest is having her "gap year', 5 years after uni. She and her boyfriend visited Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and 'did' the war museums. They'd heard their parents talk about the wars there, but were shocked by the horrors perpetrated by both sides. She's in the USA right now, and in response to my email about Railway Man, she emailed back, that she didn't think she could forgive torturers after her visits to the war zones. She's younger than we are though, life gets simpler, and at the same time more complex as we age. Like you, I wondered if I'd be so forgiving, and I hope so.
My maternal grandfather was captured and spent the last 2 years of the first war in a prison camp. He was a lovely man, and wouldn't have any of his family criticising the Germans in that war. His view was simple. It was a different world, the Germans were young lads, patriotic like us, we all just signed up, we'd no idea what we were doing. When I expressed outrage, that the German guards had taken the Red Cross Parcels meant for prisoners. He gently, but firmly told me they shared them with us, we were all starving, there was nothing to eat those final months. "They could have kept them, they didn't, they were good lads, and shared them with us". Very difficult to be a bigot with a grandfather like that (thankfully)

I'm glad you have posted this Iam64. I was looking forward to seeing this and then it got a 'not very good' write up in the paper, which put me off a bit. I am definitely going next week and I intend to read the book. There was a story in the paper this week about a young woman whose father worked an the same railway. He would never speak about it but was, apparently, a difficult man who drank excessively and was very remote. She said after watching the film she realised why her dad had been so difficult to live with and wished she had known what he went through and understood more while he was alive. The 'real man's' wife was interviewed on TV last week alongside the actor who plays the young 'him'. She said the film was very true to the real story. Her husband only died in 2012 and had co-operated with the film but she said he wouldn't have watched it - too difficult for him.

Katy - another of my friends father was captured and had a bad war as a prisoner of the Japanese. She said he was remote, and ill tempered, and far too keen on smacking. She said that knowing more about what the men went through, and being a parent herself, has made her look more kindly on her father. He died when she was 20, so before her understanding deepened. What a bonus if this film helps all of us understand more about being open about things, rather than bottling up anxieties and then exploding, or being emotionally distant as a means of survival.

I totally agree. I am not putting myself in the same league as these men, but to a lesser extent, due to my dreadful childhood experiences, I am guilty of bottling up and then exploding. Sometimes you feel that you don't want to tell people what happened to you in case you are seen as self-pitying or blaming others for the way you are. Very wise words from you Iam64. Can't wait to see the film.

for KatyK

My friend wants to see this film, but I don't.We went to see Las Vegas, last week, which we both enjoyed immensely, but Ime getting squeamish in my old age, and I don't want to watch upsetting scenes.I appreciate the fact that men and women of previous generations suffered and died for our precious freedoms. I find myself turning off the news when the announcer starts to tell of yet another war in different parts of the world.It just seems to go on and on, and I despair at mans inhumanity to their fellow beings.Sorry, folks; Ime just an old softie![hmmm]

On the subject of war theres a song out out the moment called Hey Brother by Avicii. I love the song, but the video is one of the most heart wrenching videos I've ever seen; along with Kate Bush's Army Dreamers, one of the best songs for illustrating the horror and futility of war. In the programme about American Rock that's being serialised at the moment a guy from one band [not sure which one] said he was to be drafted into the Vietnam War; he told the interviewer he wasn't good soldier material but was passed anyway; he said an elderly coloured lady showed him the forms he had to fill in and very discreetly pointed to the bit that said 'homosexual tendencies'; he ticked the box and that was the end of his war. He said he will never forget that women. I know wars do have to be fought and lives wil be lost, but sometimes it's so futile.

Railway Man is definitely NOT for me. My Stepfather was a POW in the Far East. Captured at the fall of Singapore, worked on the infamous railway, marched through jungle in appalling conditions from one camp to another, finally being released from Changi in 1945 aged just 26. He was a lovely man, marrying my mother in 1947 (a war widow) when I was 4 years old. However, all his life he suffered from nightmares, bouts of malaria, berri berri, and other 'nasty's' dying aged 67. No, I don't want to see this as I would just be seeing him which would be very distressing.

Oh, I can understand your feelings niggly. That generation, like their parents, really did just Get on With It, didn't they.

They did Iam64. It does sometimes seem strange that they were able to be so stoic, my Granny went through two world wars, the first, my Grandfather was in the trenches from 1915-18, he thankfully survived, but not without 'scars', her BIL the same, then she went through the second war and lost her Son-in-law (my father) and her nephew. Her son (my uncle) was fighting in Europe with all the worry than entailed, he mercifully survived, but could never be drawn into talking about it. Two extraordinary generations - would I be as brave and as capable? well there's a question!

The older I get, the aware I become of the backdrop of two world wars as an influence in my life. My paternal gran lost a brother in WW1, her husband's job was to follow the fighting and identify the bodies, he was 19 at the time. When WW2 broke out, my father wanted to sign up at 17. Both parents signatures were needed evidently. She refused to sign, and all credit to my grandfather, who did sign and wanted his son to go to war, he accepted gran's decision. He was sgt in the home guard, and dad was in his platoon. We didn't know this until about 8 years ago, and in made us laugh. that was the skill of that generation in my family, they made us laugh, despite the horrors they went through. Dad joined the Royal Marines at 19, and was on the Mediterranean fleet. he always told us he was lucky, missed the Battle of Crete, missed the fighting in Italy and North Africa. After he died, we discovered he was involved in hand to hand fighting in the battle of Sicily. Our generation have been fortunate in so many ways.

I suppose we all do what we have to do and don't know our inner strenghts until we have to tap into them. I wish I'd asked my mum more about the war.

Saw it tonight; can understand up to a point why it didn't rate highly in some of the reviews. Felt that a lot of it dragged a bit and I struggle with Nicole Kidman in films; she looked far too young and glamorous in this one and was very aware of her doing her 'English' accent [even though she does it very well]. Having said that, given that All is Lost scored a 4/5 and this one scored 2/5 I think there has been a miscarriage of justice. Yes it could have been made better. Did I cry at the end? You bet I did!! [still feeling a bit sniffy now].And I loved seeing Berwick. I'm assuming a lot of it was filmed in Berwick itself, because it certainly looked like the parts of Berwick that I've been to.