The Railway Man
Dir: Jonathan Teplitzky
2013
*****
An astonishing true story of an unlikely friendship between a POW and the guard who tortured him. I've written about my feelings about how the Prisoner of War films are often received in my review of Bridge Over the River Kwai. My Grandfather, who was a POW, took my father and uncle to see Bridge Over the River Kwai as young men and the devastating effect it had on him, due to it being a total misrepresentation of what actually happened, was heartbreaking and unfair. The Railway Man is the true story of Eric Lomax and how he learned to cope with the atrocities he'd seen and experienced. It's the perfect adaptation of Lomax's story, nothing has been added of taken away for cinematic or commercial effect. The direction, performances and overall sensitivity are all of the highest quality. I would argue that Finding Private Ryan is not a great War film, this is a great War film, perhaps one of the greatest ever made and I do wonder if my Grandfather wouldn't agree.