The railway man (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
	Actors: Colin Firth, Jeremy Irvine, Stellan Skarsgard, Sam Reid, Tanroh Ishida, Hiroyuki Sanada, Nicole Kidman
	Country: AUS, GB, CH
	Genre: War, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 08.06.2015, Schauburg, OV sneak preview, English
Synopsis: Eric Lomax (young/Irvine; old/Firth) was one of thousands of Allied prisoners of war forced to work on the construction of the Thai/Burma railway during WW2. His experiences, after the secret radio he built to bring news and hope to his colleagues was discovered, left him traumatised and shut off from the world. Years later, he met Patti (Kidman) on a train and fell in love. Patti was determined to rid Eric of his demons. One colleague Finlay (young/Reid; old/Skarsgard) discovers that the young Japanese officer Nagase (young/Ishida; old/Sanada) who haunted her husband is still alive.
Review: The story is based on true events with recent pictures of the protagonists at the end of the movie. The topic of the torture is presented via the feelings of the tortured people, of their friends and wife, not via the justification nor the explaination of the historical context or call for violence (5 Jahre Leben, Zero dark thirty) and not via the show for heroism (Unbroken). This opens the door to redemption. In that sense, the goal of the movie is reached. Especially because these emotions are actually independent from the war.  The acting of Colin Firth is excellent. The soldiers (Irvine, Reid and Ishida) are good also. Colin Firth succeeds in sharing the ambivalent emotion of being stuck in the past and willing to move on.  The camera movements and image composition are excellent and immerse even more in the torn feelings of Lomax, Finlay and Nagase.
Rating: 8 /10