Review of The Railway Man (2013) by Opinionated — 05 Dec 2014

Call me a book worm, or possibly a movie sceptic but The Railway Man for me was a bit of a let down. After reading the book numerous times, I was so excited when I learned of the movie release. After watching the movie, however, I realised that there was a lot of information in the book that was missing from the film. For me, the film seemed more focused on the relationship between Eric and Patti (who are beautifully represented by Firth and Kidman) than on the actual events. Although there is details of the events and the building of the railway, in my opinion it seemed that the average viewer who has not read the book would be misinformed of just how long these events actualy went on for and the brutality that occured almost constantly.

It is for this, and other reasons which I will not mention as I don't want to misguide people from watching the film themselves that I sadly give The Railway Man 5 / 10.