The Railway Man

Powerful stuff! I enjoyed it.

I knew the real family. I won't be watching the film.

Excellent film. I recommend watching it but keep a box of tissues by your side.

That’s understandable Jane10. They came across as an amazing couple.

So was his first wife who waited for him all the years of his imprisonment and two daughters born later: all airbrushed out. They really suffered too and that film didn't help.

My stepfather was a POW with the Japanese. Captured at the fall of Singapore aged 22, released late 1945. He never spoke of until the very end of his life, after my mother had died. The suffering was awful and I won't be watching this film

The first Mrs Lomax was a friend of my mother and the two daughters were at our school. It was tragic how the book and the film just never mentioned them after all their years supporting him. The original Mrs Lomax has now died as has the elder daughter who died tragically young at 15. I can only imagine how hurt they must have felt at their exclusion.

I think I read that somewhere Jane10, around the time the film came out. There’s often a back story that’s not mentioned when a film is based on a real life situation like this, which must be very hard for families to stomach. I can understand why you feel aggrieved on your friends’ behalf.
Having said that, I have seen the film and it was powerful stuff.

I agree a very powerful film I will have to rewatch I watched it when it first came out. There are two other films very similar directed by Angelina Jolie called 'Unbroken' and 'First they killed my Father' which are just as powerful. I found myself swearing at the actor who plays the Jap prison officer in Unbroken his acting was brilliant!!!!

Eric Lomax wrote the book in around 1995, I think it won an award, and there was also a BBC programme or play based on the book. The film was made much later, 2012 I think. Since the first family weren’t mentioned in the book and I believe Lomax was a consultant the film makers really had no choice but to base the film on the book and not include his first marriage. His surviving daughter said her parents’ relationship was very difficult because he was so cut off from them and they also had a stillborn son which was another tragedy for them. Lomax just couldn’t talk about what had happened to him as a POW and he was the same with his second wife until she eventually got him to open up to her. Jane10 you are right in saying his wife and daughters must have felt incredibly hurt by him not including them in the book and if I had known them I would feel angry too. We can only speculate on why he chose to omit them, perhaps it was a coping mechanism and a result of guilt. However it is a very good film, very well acted and many people who had no idea what happened to POWs captured by the Japanese will learn from it. It is a difficult watch but it is also a film about the human spirit, comradeship and forgiveness. Terrible things happen on both sides in any war and until I read about it I didn’t know that all Japanese Americans, including children, were put in prison camps after Pearl Harbour.

My brother-in-law was captured by the Japanese and came home at the end of the war weighing under 5 stone. He was hospitalised for over a year and never really recovered. I remember he was really upset and angry when Emperor Hirotio visited in the early 1970's. He never talked about his experiences. I know his sons won't be watching this film and either will I but I will read the book.

I think the film was engrossing and moving, and Colin Firth was excellent in it.

Jane's comments reminded me that I had read about the controversy regarding the omission of his first wife and daughters from the film. I suppose the book and film focused on his second wife because, from my recollection, it appeared that it was she who eventually helped him to face and come to terms with the terrible things that had happened to him.

I can see, though, that it must have been terribly hurtful and upsetting for Lomax's wife and children to have been airbrushed out of his life. Although he was a very damaged man who had suffered terribly, he might have given some thought to them and at least given them a mention.

I have not seen the film but did read the book a long time ago. It was very distressing

My Dad was never a Pow (thank God) but he served in Burma in the war and, although like so many he never spoke about the war, he must have been well aware of Japanese atrocities at the time. Later he was a doctor and had patients who had been victims. Their suffering continued over the years.
He would never have a Japanese car or gadget although he respected German engineering and would prefer their cars etc.

Yes the Second World War was a terrible experience for many of that generation both those away fighting and those at home coping with their menfolk being away, the terrible bomb raids in many cities and food rationing too. Our Aunt was horrified that our Granddaughter was considering studying German at university.