The Railway Man tells the true story of Eric Lomax, a second world war POW who was captured by the Japanese following the allied surrender at Singapore and put to work on the Burma railway. It stars Colin Firth as the older Eric Lomax in the 1989's and Jeremy Irvine as the younger Lomax in WWII, alongside Nicole Kidman as Eric's wife Patti.
Prior to watching this film, I was unfamiliar with the Eric Lomax story, I have picked up bits listening to some of the discussion around this film, so kind of knew where it was heading, but this story really surprised me. In a similar way to 12 years a slave, this tells a true story that involves the mistreatment of one group of human beings by another, as such there are a couple of scenes that are difficult viewing, especially the waterboarding scene.
You might expect Colin Firth to steal this film, however his performance is somewhat understated, Jeremy Irvine plays the younger Lomax extremely well, but for me the stand out performance in this film is from Nicole Kidman, who plays it perfectly with steely determination in her eyes as she battles her Husbands demons.
For me this had almost as much impact as 12 years and perhaps rightly so, it may not be troubling the oscars, but I found this to be a difficult tale well told. If you have seen 12 years a slave and are wondering what to see next, you could do a lot worse than to add this is your would like to see list. 9.5/10
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