The Railway Man
Before seeing the emotionally powerful The Railway Man, hunt down William Holden and Sir Alec Guinness in the classic The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). It will give you the first sentence of an historical paragraph that The Railway Man finishes.
One of the great movies in cinema history was David Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Dealing with the horrid mistreatment of British prisoners of war by the Japanese in World War II as they were forced to build a railroad in the jungles of Burma, it left one unanswered question. How did the survivors on both sides adapt to life at home after the war ended?
The Railway Man provides an answer in chilling fashion. The extraordinary Colin Firth plays Eric Lomax, a former British soldier haunted by his time in captivity. Appearing normal, he rides trains in England as both a hobby and to escape his past.
In the process, he meets regularly with old military comrades, guys who provide collective support without saying one word about their ordeal. Stellan Skarsgard gives another accomplished performances as a close friend who helps Lomax protect their dark secrets.
In the process, Lomax meets a divorced woman on one of his train rides, and he falls in love and marries her. Played warmly by Nicole Kidman, a former nurse, she seeks to help her husband confront his reoccurring nightmares.
A critical moment in this film occurs when Kidman beseeches Skarsgard to reveal what really happened after they surrendered to the Japanese. Overwhelmed by the trauma caused by reliving a tragedy he was sworn to protect, Ms. Kidman learns of her husband’s lengthy torture that resulted from his creation of an old radio designed solely to allow his battered friends to listen to news and music from England.
The film reaches its denouement with the discovery that one of Lomax’s Japanese tormenters is not only alive, but conducting a tour of the original prison camp and surrounding work area in Malaysia. Lomax must decide if he is to confront his adversary, and the movie defines the character of both men.
While Firth is wonderful at every turn, he is matched by the performance of Hiroyuki Sanada, a man equally haunted by his past war experience. Why did he do the horrible things that cling to his psyche like an incurable disease? Should he now be killed, or would that turn Lomax into someone no better than his foe? Then again, if young men do horrible things, don’t you save your own soul by forgiving them?
The Railway Man is based on a true story, and I couldn’t help but feel its relationship to the unforgivable torture that our country inflicted on captives under Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney. As we watch Lomax being hideously waterboarded in The Railway Man, wasn’t that the same reaction of many Islamic captives under our control?
If we are to condemn Japanese military superiors for their cruel treatment of Allied soldiers in World War II, don’t we also need to condemn our own country for engaging in the same activities in the 21st century? How can we excuse that which we consider forbidden?
Bob,
I think you are an accomplished attorney as well as movie critic, but……I would strongly disagree with your assertion of “unforgivable” torture. The Japanese tortured for their own sadistic pleasure without any sense of obtaining meaningful intelligence from the survivors of Bataan Death March, Wake Island captives, British prisoners from Malaysia-Singapore, etc. Even a few American GIs and Marines collected ears and teeth from fallen Japanese. These examples are definitely unforgivable as you say. I am sure that waterboarding was and is used a little more than we would like to admit, but it is documented that some sessions were successful in saving thousands of lives since 9-11. We are not privy to the actual events but I would assert that sometimes any method should be used when absolutely necessary. Should torture be used on any prisoner for the hell of it? Absolutely not! However, if a prisoner is a highly placed source with intelligence knowledge that is crucial to saving the lives of innocent civilians, then our hands should not be tied. Those poor Islamic captives would not hesitate to waterboard you and then behead you afterward if given the chance! I would certainly allow waterboarding to obtain the location of those 300 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamic terrorists and I am positive the politicos and celebs demanding their release in todays news would agree. I do find it curious that the politicos and celebs are just now reacting to this African state of affairs! It has been going on for years. Just a few months ago, about 60 boys were burned and beheaded by these Islamic nuts. Where was the outcry then! Tough decisions need to be made in wartime, but mindless slaughter should always be condemned. Always remember that one of our loved ones could be in a target area and I would certainly applaud any intelligence tool that was used to prevent a horrific catastrophe! Sorry for the diatribe, Bob, but a former neighbor of mine in Chicago survived the Death March and a hell ship ride to Japan. If some waterboarding could have prevented Pearl Harbor, the fall of Bataan and Corregidor, 9-11, etc. then I am sure all of us would have assented to its use! After all, it is better than a bullet to the brain or beheading since you are alive after the procedure. Paul Gerhardt