Review: The Railway Man (2014)

Snap Judgment: A brutal story of PTSD that is ultimately redemptive and optimistic. Colin Firth is a man obsessed with railways  who in the beginning of the film meets and falls in love with gentle but courageous Nicole Kidman. Colin Firth is still crippled by his time in the Japanese POW camps that built the Thai-Burma Railway (which is also the subject of the newest Booker Prize winner, The Narrow Road to the Deep North). Colin Firth learns that the Japanese translator who was one of his main torturers is still alive and goes to confront, and maybe kill him. 

Honestly, the torture/POW parts of this film were hard to get through, mostly because you know such awful, cruel, unspeakable things really
happened to people (in fact, this movie is based on an autobiography of the same name by Eric Lomax). The performances are so raw and expressive that I think it is a damn shame that none of them will get nominated (because this film didn't get released during awards season, the chance of nominations are almost nil). Colin Firth in particular is impressive as a shy, kind, upright man who is still broken but can't find a way to heal. Nicole Kidman does an equally powerful job as his wife, a woman who loves him deeply and tries to be strong for him, but struggles with how to help when love is not enough. Supporting performances by Stellan Skarsgard (Colin Firth's best friend and fellow POW survivor) and Hiroyuki Sanada (the war criminal who tortured Colin Firth and has spent the past decades trying to redeem himself) are also excellent. This film intelligently explores the question of what war does to both the victim and the perpetrator, how it shatters everything it touches and how it isn't a simple, easy thing to move past.

Grade: B+

Final Verdict: A beautifully performed, traumatic but redemptive movie about war, torture, and the cost it demands.

If You Like This, Watch: Letters from Iwo Jima/Flags Of Our Fathers, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, The English Patient