Review: The Railway Man

The story of Eric Lomax (Colin Firth), an English railway enthusiast who has never gotten over the physical torture and psychological effects of being a POW held captive by the Japanese during WWII. On one of his regular train trips, the timetable-obsessed Lomax meets and quickly romances Patti (Nicole Kidman). After they are married, Lomax’s unhealed scars make themselves known, and Patti feels at a loss as to what to do. She turns to fellow former POW Finlay (Stellan Skarsgaard), but he warns her against prying too much. Meanwhile, Finlay learns that the Japanese interpreter who witnessed the torture is still alive and now works at a war memorial. Jeremy Irvine plays the younger Lomax, whilst Hiroyuki Sanada plays the older version of the interpreter.

 

Strong, sincere performances give a lift to otherwise fairly well-worn territory in this 2013 film from Aussie director Jonathan Teplitzky (who made the amusing bogan crime-comedy “Gettin’ Square” in 2003). Based on the memoir by Eric Lomax, as adapted by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Andy Paterson, it’s a clichéd story, true or not. However, with Colin Firth as its anchor, you’re willing to put up with that a bit. Is there an actor alive better at conveying a thoroughly decent (if dull) man crippled with inner turmoil than Firth? I don’t think so. Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgaard, and later the ubiquitous Hiroyuki Sanada (admittedly a little young for the part, perhaps, but very strong nonetheless) are all solid backup, though Skarsgaard and Kidman aren’t in the film all that much, rather surprising in the latter’s case. The flashback scenes without any of these actors suffer a bit, as the lesser-known actors aren’t interesting (though Jeremy Irvine is quite convincing as a young Firth) and the prison camp clichés are similarly not all that fascinating.

 

The one fresh element here is the chance at revenge/resolution given the Firth character in the latter stages of the film, taking things into a much more interesting and darker area. And that’s why Firth is so crucial, as his innate decency helps one from becoming alienated from the character and his darker impulses. Firth helps you to want to understand this man and what makes him tick, far more than any of the flashbacks could.

 

It’s not a great film, but it’s a solid and genuinely very sad one, especially if you like these sorts of stories about the psychological effects of POW experiences. Well-shot by Garry Phillips, in classical fashion, a sad rarity in these days of shaky-cam nonsense.

 

Rating: B-