The Railway Man
(UK/Australia, 116 min.)
Dir. Jonathan Teplitzky, Writ. Frank Cottrell
Boyce, Andy Patterson
Starring: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine,
Stellan Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada.
Programme: Galas (World Premiere)
Academy Award winners Colin Forth and Nicole Kidman finally share the
screen in The Railway Man, the true
life story of war survivor/railway enthusiast Eric Lomax. Firth gives an
excellent performance in the lead role as the man haunted by memories of the
past. His meticulously detailed performance does for post-traumatic stress
disorder what his performance as the King George did performance for glossophobia,
confidence, and leadership in The King’s
Speech. Kidman is equally fine in a supporting turn as Eric’s wife, Patti,
whom Eric meets on, where else, a train. The stars have good chemistry as they
honor their real life subjects but forge a creative interpretation of a tale
that’s a romance and thriller both.
The Railway Man cross cuts from pay to present as it dramatizes Eric's story as he grapples with the haunting memories of his time as a wartime prisoner. Eric, probe to night terrors and paranoia, refuses to open up to his new wife, so she visits a war buddy, Finlay (Stellan Skarsgard), with whom her husband remains in contact. The film flashes back to the sweaty banks of Burma as Finlay tells to Patti the story of Eric’s torture and imprisonment following their capture by the Japanese. The younger version of Eric is plagued by Jeremy Irvine (War Horse, Great Expectations) and he provides both a physical and creative match for Firth.
The irony of Eric's imprisonment is that the Japanese force
the captured men to build a railroad. Eric's passion becomes his thus becomes
his curse—notice how ill at ease he seems during the first encounter with
Patti. He hardly looks hey in the eye and one might easily mistake trauma for
bashful ness.
The tapestry of The Railway Man, which unfolds with a time
structure of literary intricacy, conveys a compelling and emotionally gratifying
story of love and forgiveness. As Lomax swears revenge on the man who still
plagues his dreams (played by Hiroyuki Sanada in the present and Tanroh Ishida
in the past), The Railway Man offers
an absorbing and surprising tale of finding catharsis in the most unexpected of
allies.
Director Jonathan Teplitzky handles the complexity of this true-life
tale with care, staging the wartime scenes with impressive scale and gravity.
The scenes in the present-day sequence alternatively unfold in an atmosphere of ethereal
haunting with how gorgeously Teplitzky and cinematographer David Hirschfelder compose
the tale. As Finlay recounts Eric’s story to Grace within a back lit room, The Railway Man almost looks like ghost
story. The Railway Man tells
an elaborate and evocative tale about the sins of the past and of the
redemptive power of atonement and forgiveness.
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Rating: ★★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
The
Railway Man screens Thursday, Sept. 12 at 11am at the VISA
Screening Room.
Lr: Jonathan Teplitzky, subject Patti Lomax, Colin Firth, Jeremy Irvine, Hiroyuki Sanado, Tanroh Ishida. |