Film Analysis - The Railway Man

The Railway Man
FILM ANALYSIS – THE RAILWAY MAN
Introduction
The movie “The Railway Man” was released in 2013, and was directed by Jonathan
Teplitzky (Lomax, Boyce, & Paterson, 2013). It is an adaptation of the book that goes by the
same name, which is an autobiography of Eric Lomax, a British soldier who was held Prisoner of
War in the Second World War. The movie is of the genre war drama, and is the interpretation of
the true story of Lomax’s post-war, and his redemption. The reality of post-war trauma and how
Lomax struggles to overcomes it is the main point being explored in this movie. Eric Sutherland
Lomax, the author of the book which was the base for this movie was a World War II veteran,
and was a member of The Freedom Association. He was born in 1919, and took a fancy for
railways and locomotives since his childhood, which proved to be a turning point in his life. He
died in 2012 at the age of 93.
I choose this movie as it primarily focused on the psychological aspect of war, which is
mostly left unnoticed. My personal opinion on this movie is that it was a different experience
altogether; it had transported me to the time of the War, and had a surreal experience on me. It
also focuses on how holding grudges and enmities for long would do more harm than good, and
that forgiveness could be liberating.
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The Railway Man
Summary
Lomax, Boyce, & Paterson, (2013) The Railway Man
The movie revolves around the real life story of Eric Lomax and his life before, during
and after the Second World War. The movie starts with Eric Lomax’s (played by Colin Firth)
toils in the Japanese Prisoners of War camp, where he is subject to all forms of torture, including
water boarding, because he was suspected of being a British spy. He tries to move on forgetting
the past, but the face of a certain Japanese interrogator still remains vivid in his memory. The
story moves on to thirty years after the war, where Lomax is seen to be suffering with post-war
trauma. His friend stumbles upon the autobiography of that interrogator, known to be Takashi
Nagase (played by Hiroyki Sanada), and shows it to Lomax before committing suicide. Lomax
along with Patricia (played by Nicole Kidman) writes to Nagase and they decide to meet. Upon
meeting, Lomax vents his pent up anger and vengeance, and tries to hurt Nagase just as the
Japanese soldiers had hurt him, but could not do so. Ultimately, Lomax forgives Nagase, and the
two of them move on with their lives. In the epilogue, it is mentioned that both Lomax and
Nagase remained as friends until their deaths which occurred a year after the other.
Brown, C., Curbishley, B., Paterson, A. (Producers), Lomax, E., Boyce, F., Paterson, A.
(Writers), & Teplitzky, J. (Director). (2013). The Railway Man [Motion Picture]. UK,
Australia: Lionsgate.
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The Railway Man
Contextual Analysis
This movie was released in 2013, after the deaths of both Eric Lomax and Takashi
Nagase. The historical background that was explored is the Second World War and lifestyle of
the United Kingdom and Japan at that time. There is a substantial time gap between the
occurrences of the events and the prevailing sentiments of World peace and democracy in the
post-war period. However, as this story was the adaptation of an autobiography written in 1993
by the main protagonist himself, there seems to be a balance between the happenings and the
depiction, and so the historical and cultural background of the story has not influenced the
narrative much.
As this was a movie adaptation, there were definitely a few modifications to the original
text made (History Vs Hollywood, 2018). For example, Eric Lomax’s first wife and the mother
of two of his children Agnes was completely absent from the movie, while she occupied a
significant role in the book. In the movie, Lomax was shown to have a murderous intent towards
Nagase, but in reality he sought a closure. The death of Lomax’s friend was also inaccurate, as
he had died of natural causes and not suicide as depicted in the movie. The story was written
when Lomax was at peace with his scarred past, thus he was able to provide redemption to his
life of struggles. As this story was a depiction of true events, the horrors of the tortures faced by
the prisoners of war, though unspeakably disturbing to handle, were confirmed to be portrayed
accurately. The fact that the movie could not do justice to the tortures was based on humanitarian
grounds.
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