Review of The Railway Man (2013) by Peter M — 04 Feb 2014

After seeing a succession of highly over-rated high budget movies in recent weeks it was refreshing to get back to the true art of cinema where technical competence is used to enhance rather than obliterate the story. The Railway Man is never comfortable viewing but the power of the story of how the barbaric treatment of the POWs haunted them years after is sensitively told.

It is interesting to compare with 12 years a slave. Both films deal with the barbarity of man to his fellow man, but where 12 years a slave focuses on the central character's relationships with others, The Railway Man really gets inside the central character and as a consequence the emotional impact of the film is immeasurably greater. This is far more worthy of Oscar success than the over-hyped movies that will doubtless sweep the boards.