Evening,
everybody. Tonight’s post focuses on Prisoner of War drama, The Railway Man. It based on the memoirs
of the late former British Army officer, Eric Lomax, and the torture he
received from the Japanese after the fall of Singapore. Such a sensitive
subject required a lot of careful thought on exactly what to say about this
film, and I must admit I was struggling with exactly what to write. Anyway,
this is what I managed to come up with...
An important
message to note from this film, is that war leaves a mark. It is this
significant quote that almost summarises what Lomax (Colin Firth) has to endure
for the rest of his life. He gets incredibly distressed, frequently needs to be
alone, and cannot forget the horrific suffering he endured whilst being forced to work on the Thai-Burma Railway – all for simply
building a radio. Firth is, in my opinion, one of the greatest acting talents
that Britain has to offer, and his performance in this film certainly lived up
to my expectations. I have never seen him play a role poorly or been miscast,
and I’m wondering if this could ever happen. Aside from his playing Lomax at
his worst state with such sensitivity, the first meeting between Lomax and his
wife Patti (Nicole Kidman), is adorably awkward yet sweet, and certainly made
me smile.
The film flits
between Lomax’s time as a Prisoner of War and the present day, and his younger
self is played by Jeremy Irvine (War
Horse). I felt that this was a good choice; he almost mirrors Firth in his
portrayal of Lomax, which was altogether more realistic. What was also pretty
realistic, were the torture scenes. Beware of these; if you don’t have a strong
stomach, you may find them a little too much. Personally, scenes of this nature
don’t faze me anymore; having seen a range of slightly stomach-churning films
in the last few years (Amores Perros,
City of God, Taxi Driver, This is England, to name but a few), graphic
violence in films doesn’t bother me. Don’t get me wrong, these are utterly compelling
works, but perhaps not for the faint-hearted. And the same goes for this film,
so take a cushion if you’re not keen on that sort of thing.
Overall, I found
this film to be engaging, deep, plus the outcome of the film (which I won’t
give away, of course) really restores your faith in humanity. For a film with a
subject that wouldn’t normally interest me a huge amount, I certainly enjoyed
it – this film should be destined for good things at upcoming awards ceremonies.
Rating: 4 stars –
even if war films are not usually your sort of thing, give this film a chance.
You may be pleasantly surprised.
Georgie
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