2013 film
The Railway Man
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by
| Jonathan Teplitzky
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Screenplay by
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Based on
| The Railway Man
by
Eric Lomax
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Produced by
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Starring
| |
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Cinematography
| Garry Phillips
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Edited by
| Martin Connor
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Music by
| David Hirschfelder
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Production
companies
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Distributed by
| |
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Release dates
|
- 6 September 2013
(
2013-09-06
)
(
TIFF
)
- 26 December 2013
(
2013-12-26
)
(Australia)
- 10 January 2014
(
2014-01-10
)
(United Kingdom)
|
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Running time
| 116 minutes
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Countries
|
- Australia
- Switzerland
- France
- United Kingdom
[1]
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Language
| English
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Budget
| $18 million
[5]
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Box office
| $22.3 million
[2]
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The Railway Man
is a 2013
war film
directed by
Jonathan Teplitzky
. It is an adaptation of the
1995 autobiography of the same name
by
Eric Lomax
, and stars
Colin Firth
,
Nicole Kidman
,
Jeremy Irvine
, and
Stellan Skarsgard
.
[6]
[7]
[8]
It premiered at the
2013 Toronto International Film Festival
on 6 September 2013.
[9]
Plot
[
edit
]
During the Second World War,
Eric Lomax
is a British officer who is captured by the Japanese
in Singapore
and sent to a Japanese
POW
camp, where he is
forced to work
on the Thai-
Burma Railway
north of the
Malay Peninsula
. During his time in the camp as one of the
Far East prisoners of war
, Lomax is tortured by the
Kempeitai
(military secret police) for building a radio receiver from spare parts. The torture depicted includes beatings, food deprivation and
waterboarding
. Apparently, he had fallen under suspicion of being a spy, for supposedly using the British news broadcast receiver as a transmitter of military intelligence. In fact, however, his only intention had been to use the device as a morale booster for himself and his fellow prisoner-slaves. Lomax and his surviving comrades are finally rescued by the British Army.
Thirty years later, Lomax is still suffering the psychological trauma of his wartime experiences, though strongly supported by his wife, Patricia, whom he had met on one of his many train excursions, a true railway enthusiast. His best friend and fellow ex-POW Finlay brings him evidence that one of their captors, an interpreter for the Japanese secret police
Takashi Nagase
, is now working as a tourist guide in the very camp where he interpreted for the Kempetai as they tortured British POWs. Before Lomax can act on this information, Finlay, unable to handle his memories of his experiences, commits suicide by hanging himself from a bridge. Lomax travels alone to Thailand and returns to the scene of his torture to confront Nagase “in an attempt to let go of a lifetime of bitterness and hate”. When he finally confronts his former captor, Lomax first questions him in the same way Nagase and his men had interrogated him years before.
The situation builds up to the point where Lomax prepares to smash Nagase's arm, using a club and a clamp designed by the Japanese for that purpose and now used as war exhibits. Out of guilt, Nagase does not resist, but Lomax redirects the blow at the last moment. Lomax threatens to cut Nagase's throat and finally pushes him into a bamboo cage, of the kind in which Lomax and many other POWs had been placed as punishment. Nagase soon reveals that the Japanese (including himself) were brainwashed into thinking the war would be a victorious one for them, and that he never knew about the high casualties caused by the
Imperial Japanese Army
. Lomax finally frees Nagase, throws his knife into the nearby river and returns to Britain.
After receiving a heartfelt letter from Nagase confessing his feelings of guilt, Lomax returns, with Patricia, to Thailand. He meets Nagase once again, and in an emotional scene the two accept each other's apologies and embrace. The epilogue relates that Nagase and Eric remained friends until Nagase's death in 2011 and Eric's one year later.
Cast
[
edit
]
Production
[
edit
]
While he was working on the screenplay, co-writer
Frank Cottrell Boyce
travelled to
Berwick-upon-Tweed
in Northumberland with Firth to meet 91-year-old
Lomax
.
[10]
Firth said of the film: "I think what is not often addressed is the effect over time. We do sometimes see stories about what it's like coming home from war, we very rarely see stories about what it's like decades later. This is not just a portrait of suffering. It's about relationships ... how that damage interacts with intimate relationships, with love."
[11]
Rachel Weisz
was originally to play Patricia, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with re-shoots for other films.
[12]
Shooting began in April 2012 in
Edinburgh
,
Perth
,
Berwick-upon-Tweed
. and
North Berwick
in East Lothian and
St Monans
in Fife, and later in
Thailand
and
Ipswich, Queensland
, Australia.
[6]
[12]
Reception
[
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]
Box office
[
edit
]
The film grossed $4,415,429 in the US, and $17,882,455 outside internationally, for a combined gross of $22,297,884.
[2]
Critical response
[
edit
]
On
Rotten Tomatoes
, a
review aggregator
, the film has a 67% approval rating based on 128 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The consensus reads: "Understated to a fault,
The Railway Man
transcends its occasionally stodgy pacing with a touching, fact-based story and the quiet chemistry of its stars."
[13]
At
Metacritic
, the film received a score of 59/100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
[14]
Kidman, Firth, and Irvine were all praised for their roles. Katherine Monk of the
Montreal Gazette
said of Kidman: "It's a truly masterful piece of acting that transcends Teplitzky's store-bought framing, but it's Kidman who delivers the biggest surprise: For the first time since her eyebrows turned into solid marble arches, the Australian Oscar winner is truly terrific", and finished with: "Coupled with some dowdy clothes and a keen ear for accents, Kidman is a very believable middle-aged survivor who will not surrender to melodrama or abandonment".
[15]
Ken Korman, who agreed with that assessment, stated: "Kidman finds herself playing an unabashedly middle-aged character. She rises to the occasion with a deep appreciation of her character's own emotional trauma."
[16]
Liam Lacey of
The Globe and Mail
stated, "Firth gives the performance his all as a man trapped in a vortex of grief, shame and hate, but as in
Scott Hicks
's
Shine
, which the film occasionally resembles, there's an overtidy relationship between trauma and catharsis".
[17]
Accolades
[
edit
]
Historical accuracy
[
edit
]
Philip Towle
from the
University of Cambridge
, who specialises in the treatment of POWs, awarded the film three stars out of five for historical accuracy. Reviewing the film for History Extra, the website of
BBC History Magazine
, he said that, while he had no problem with the representation of the suffering of POWs or the way in which the Japanese are portrayed, "the impression [the film] gives of the post-war behaviour of former POWs of the Japanese is too generalised..."
Towle also points out that the meeting between Lomax and his tormentor was not unexpected, but rather there had been correspondence leading up to it. He writes that the film may not have made it clear: the railway was basically finished, and by the time of their rescue "...the main dangers to the POWs came from starvation and disease, allied bombing and the looming threat that all would be murdered by the Japanese at the end of the war."
[20]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"The Railway Man"
.
bfi
. Archived from
the original
on 30 January 2018
. Retrieved
10 October
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"The Railway Man (2013)"
.
Box Office Mojo
. Retrieved
28 November
2015
.
- ^
"The Railway Man"
.
Transmission Films
. Retrieved
3 November
2021
.
- ^
"The Railway Man - die Liebe seines Lebens - Ascot Elite"
.
- ^
"The Railway Man (2014)"
.
The Numbers
.
- ^
a
b
"Colin Firth 'overwhelmed' by Scot's film story"
.
BBC News
. 27 April 2012
. Retrieved
27 April
2012
.
- ^
Miller, Daniel (31 October 2011).
"
'War Horse' Star Jeremy Irvine to Play Young Colin Firth in 'The Railway Man'
"
.
Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
12 November
2011
.
- ^
Kemp, Stuart (27 April 2012).
"Stellan Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada Join Hollywood Stars in 'The Railway Man'
"
.
Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
27 April
2012
.
- ^
"Nelson Mandela biopic to have world premiere at Toronto"
.
BBC News
. Retrieved
24 July
2013
.
- ^
Jones, Catherine (29 September 2011).
"Frank Cottrell Boyce enjoys trip to Northumberland with Oscar-winner Colin Firth"
.
Liverpool Echo
. Liverpool, UK
. Retrieved
28 April
2012
.
- ^
Scott, Kirsty (27 April 2012).
"Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman aboard for second world war film The Railway Man | Film | theguardian.com"
.
theguardian.com
. Retrieved
2 December
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Westthorp, Tanya (8 March 2012).
"Kidman, Firth to hit Coast for film"
.
Goldcoast.com.au
. Queensland, Australia. Archived from
the original
on 19 April 2012
. Retrieved
8 March
2012
.
- ^
"The Railway Man"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
.
Fandango Media
. Retrieved
20 November
2022
.
- ^
"The Railway Man Reviews"
.
Metacritic
. Retrieved
6 July
2014
.
- ^
Monk, Katherine (22 April 2014).
"Movie review: The Railway Man highlights Firth, Kidman (with video)"
.
Montreal Gazette
. Archived from
the original
on 26 December 2014
. Retrieved
23 April
2015
.
- ^
Korman, Ken (25 April 2014).
"Review:
The Railway Man
"
.
Best of New Orleans
. Archived from
the original
on 26 December 2014
. Retrieved
23 April
2015
.
- ^
Lacey, Liam (25 April 2014).
"The Railway Man: Firth is fine, but still can't keep this on track"
.
The Globe and Mail
. Retrieved
23 April
2015
.
- ^
Maddox, Garry (29 January 2015).
"Surprises aplenty as AACTA Awards are announced"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. Retrieved
29 January
2015
.
- ^
"4th AACTA Awards: full list of nominees"
.
The Sydney Morning Herald
. 3 December 2014
. Retrieved
29 January
2015
.
- ^
"Historian at the Movies: The Railway Man reviewed"
. History Extra
. Retrieved
20 January
2014
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]