Many years after the war, Eric, a smart and courageous soldier, who has been taken as hostage during the Second World War, when he struggles against being tortured on the hands of a Japanese officer, makes his mind to face that corrupted officer by the help of his wife.
Flicking back and forth in time may not make for a smooth narrative, but the message of forgiveness and reconciliation comes through loud and clear -- this is quite an extraordinary tale.
Beautifully acted, The Railway Man is profoundly moving, and yet, somehow, its sentimental ending manages to be both unearned and predictable.
Birmingham Mail
October 10, 2014
As an Oscar winner for The King's Speech (2010), Firth has nothing to prove. But this is a performance which he might eventually consider to be his finest, speaking volumes for men who quietly carried the burdens of evil on their shoulders.
It does its best to honor the unique compassion of the account without succumbing to schmaltz or banal arthouse prestige. The success rate here is a little better than half.
The critical problems are an overbusy time-jumping script and reliance on the conventions of the trauma drama - flashbacks, fragmentation, distorted time and space - that prove more a barrier than a window into the character's inner lives.