Character actor Bryan Probets is particularly memorable in a small role as a major whose brain has been short-circuited by the prison camp. It is raw acting and thoughtful visuals that propel the story to a resolution of heartbreak and enlightenment, that make a predictable ending still powerful, and that ultimately transform The. The supporting cast is uniformly excellent, to the point where Teplitzky deserves credit for his work with the cast of hundreds - especially in the more densely populated prison scenes. Pacing problems in the second half, when the present-day scenes become more scarce, are much less damaging because of Kidman's ability to make the best use of every moment onscreen.įirth seamlessly plays a man at least 15 years older than himself, and Kidman has her greatest success yet looking and acting her age. Strikingly complex performances from Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman help give the film some deeper resonance, even if even it all seems rather under-powered. But while Firth's performance is the most memorable, Kidman's believability as a new wife who thinks her husband is worth fighting for holds the movie together. As his post-traumatic breakdowns get worse, she pushes him to confront his past.Īs the movie creeps forward with teases from the prison camp, Firth and Jeremy Irvine (playing the younger Lomax in harrowing flashbacks) convincingly show how a gentle young soldier becomes a broken man. ![]() They instantly have an intellectual connection, and the whirlwind affair doesn't leave time for Patti to fully understand Eric's demons. He meets Patti (Kidman), a former nurse who is adrift as well. The Railway Man is an earnest, intense drama about the torture of a British Army officer at a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, and the victims vengeful confrontation with his. Director Jonathan Teplitzky ’s film remains respectable and restrained until the very endbut the performances are so strong and the ultimate catharsis that occurs is so palpable that it sneaks up on you with an unexpected emotional wallop. It has the simplified feel of a book-made-into-a-movie at times (among other things, the filmmakers leave out Lomax's first wife and three children), but it's still a tense and moving experience.Įric (Firth) is a retired World War II veteran in the early 1980s, and he has a savant-like knowledge of English railways and military history. Austere and old-fashioned almost to a fault, 'The Railway Man' offers tastefully safe treatment of a horrific subject: the torture of a British Army officer at a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II. The film that The Railway Man will undoubtedly bring to mind is David Leans Oscar-winning 1957 classic, The Bridge on the River Kwai, if for no other reason because both films depict the same. Firth and Kidman are both up for the challenge, complementing the compelling story with measured and memorable performances.Īustralian director Jonathan Teplitzky's mystery/drama focuses heavily on the torture and recovery themes in Eric Lomax's 1995 autobiographical novel. ![]() "The Railway Man" begins with bumbling Colin Firth, bemused Nicole Kidman and a romance on a train - the kind of witty love-at-first-sight meeting that the actors might have milked into an entire movie a decade or two ago.īut there's great pain ahead, deeply buried truths, and ultimately an attempt at redemption and reconciliation.
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