The Railway Man (2013) on Netflix
Eric Lomax, a British officer, is captured in Singapore and put to work on the Thai-Burma Railway. The Kempeitai torture him over a radio receiver he built from spare parts.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb7.1/1044,728 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes66%
Trailer
Plot summary
Captured in Singapore during the Second World War, the British officer Eric Lomax is sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, where he labors on the Thai-Burma Railway. He builds a radio receiver from spare parts, hoping to raise morale with news broadcasts. The Kempeitai, the Japanese military secret police, suspect him of spying and torture him over the device, with beatings, food deprivation and waterboarding. Thirty years later he is still living with the psychological damage of his wartime experiences.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Railway Man (2013)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Rachel Weisz was originally to play Patricia, the wife of Eric Lomax, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with re-shoots for other films.
- Philip Towle, a University of Cambridge specialist on the treatment of POWs, noted that the real Eric Lomax and his tormentor had corresponded before their meeting, and that by the time the prisoners were rescued the railway was basically finished.
- While working on the screenplay, co-writer Frank Cottrell Boyce traveled to Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland with Colin Firth to meet 91-year-old Eric Lomax.
