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The Railway Man

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Iam64 Sun 12-Jan-14 17:06:51

Just back from watching this film, which I'd highly recommend. Colin Firth is (of course) brilliant, as is the actor who plays Lomax as a young man. Nicole Kidman is good, though wouldn't have been my first choice for the role.

Watching the film reminded me of a close friend, whose father was an officer, captured with his troops and put to work on the Burma Railway. He returned to our town to lead what was left of his troops in the VJDay 50th anniversary parade. He had never spoken of his time as a prisoner. The morning of the parade, my friend asked his father if he ever thought about the war. The answer was, yes every day, and I dream about it every night. His dreams involved him having to select the members of his troop who were fit to work on the railway, in the full knowledge that those left behind would die, as would many of the men he deemed fit to work. The film shows the violence and terror experienced by the prisoners unflinchingly. The redemption scenes are very moving.
Life affirming movie

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Iam64 Thu 16-Jan-14 08:35:38

I would have preferred one of the older English actors playing Mrs Railwayman, than Nicole.

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MaggieP Thu 16-Jan-14 11:13:02

We saw this last night.
Very moving, harrowing in parts and thought Colin Firth excellent. I heard him talk about what a difficult part it was to portray and no amount of torture shown on screen could really depict how bad it was for those poor prisoners.
We came home and decided to buy the book by Eric Lomax.

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Tegan Thu 16-Jan-14 11:58:27

I kept wondering how much botox Ms Kidman had had to look so line free wink. I thought she was wonderful in The Hours with her prosthetic nose. I wonder what age the real Mrs Railwayman was when she married him? [quick google needed]. I'd've preferred someone like Emily Watson playing the role [maybe she's too old?]. The young lad who played young Mr Railwayman was brilliant as well [although I kept thinking he looked like Harry Potter [that's all because some parts of the film didn't hold my interest enough]. But I'm still annoyed about the bad ratings it's got; much as I've critiscised it, it has stayed with me and I keep thinking about it.

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