![]() ![]() Colin Firth gives another powerful, if underplayed, performance in a still rising career of memorable roles Firth alone is reason enough to see the movie. Unlike the David Lean classic, "The Railway Man" is no action thriller, but rather a psychological examination of the lingering effects of war's brutalities on the survivors, both the victors and the vanquished. Tanroh Ishida and Hiroyuki Sanada are excellent in key roles as Japanese guard and interpreter. Stellan Skarsgard has a short, but effective role, as Finlay, the mature version of Lomax's prison mate, who helps Patti delve into Eric's past. The rest of the film's cast is also fine Jeremy Irvine does well as the young Eric, who convinces viewers that he could age into Colin Firth. Unfortunately, Nicole Kidman's perfect complexion and carefully made-up demeanor work against any verisimilitude as Patti, the loyal, loving wife of an introverted man with dark secrets once beyond her looks, however, she does an earnest capable job in the undemanding role. Colin Firth portrays Eric in a restrained internalized performance that simmers with efforts to suppress harrowing memories, pent-up anger, and a thirst for vengeance. Once wed, Eric's suppressed demons from his war experiences surface, and Patti attempts to unravel her husband's mysteries and reclaim the man that she loves. The film's outer layer is a love story between an aging unkempt railway enthusiast, Eric Lomax, and a younger woman, Patti, whom he meets during a train journey. However, in flashback, the cinematography shifts to warmer hues that imbue the tropical prison camp scenes shot around Kanchanaburi, Thailand, and the actual rail line that crosses the River Kwai. Hidden secrets erupt from a rumpled domestic scene and unfurl in a bleak and monochromatic Scotland. A brutal, less spectacular cousin to "The Bridge on the River Kwai," the film centers on events that followed the British surrender of Singapore in 1942 and the subsequent Japanese use of British prisoners of war to construct a railway line from Thailand into Burma. The film slowly unfolds through flashbacks as layer upon layer of a World War II veteran's repressed memories are stripped away. Arguably, it could have been tougher, more savage, but then it might be harder to sit through.īased on a true memoir of survival, love, retribution, and forgiveness, "The Railway Man" sets off from Edinburgh at a leisurely pace. This is a strange movie, grim but highly watchable. 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. 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 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. David Lean's BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI casts a huge shadow over this movie. 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. Based on a true story, it's also a tale of love and redemption, two of the cinema's (and literature's) greatest themes. It's a tense story about one of the great horrors of World War Two. Yesterday I saw THE RAILWAY MAN and can't understand why the critics have been so dismissive. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.Last week I saw American HUSTLE and couldn't understand why the critics have so raved about it. Left emotionally scarred and unable to form normal relationships Lomax suffered for years until, with the help of his wife Patti and the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. During the second world war Eric Lomax was forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam Railway and was tortured by the Japanese for making a crude radio. Almost 50 years after the war, however, his life was changed by the discovery that his interrogator, the Japanese interpretor, was still alive - their reconciliation is the culmination of this extraordinary story. Exhaustively and brutally tortured by the Japanese for making acrude radio, Lomax was emotionally ruined by his experiences. He was put to work on the 'Railway of Death' - the Japanese line from Thailand to Burma. A naive young man, a railway enthusiast and radio buff, was caught up in the fall of the British Empire at Singapore in 1942. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |