World War II · Film · 2013
The Railway Man
Decades after he was tortured as a prisoner on the Burma Railway, a British veteran learns that the Japanese interpreter who took part is still alive, and goes back to Thailand to face him.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 2 places.
Stop 1: Changi, Singapore
Young signals officer Eric Lomax is among the thousands of British soldiers who surrender when Singapore falls.
Stop 2: Kanchanaburi camp, Burma Railway
Key location
Lomax builds a radio to bring news to the prisoners; when it is found he is tortured, and decades later he returns to the same place.
What really happened
Eric Lomax, a Royal Signals officer, was captured at the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 along with some 80,000 British, Australian and Indian troops. Sent to work on the Burma Railway, he was caught in 1943 at Kanchanaburi with a secretly built radio and a map of the line, and was beaten and interrogated by the Kempeitai, with Takashi Nagase as their interpreter.
Lomax told his story in his 1995 memoir. He and Nagase, who had spent years on acts of atonement, met at the bridge at Kanchanaburi in 1993 and became friends. The film adds a confrontation with violence and an invented friend, Finlay, whose suicide pushes Lomax to act.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- The Railway Man
- Directed by
- Jonathan Teplitzky
- Countries
- Australia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, France
- Languages
- English, Japanese
- Released
- 2013
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- China & Southeast Asia
- Themes
- Prisoners of war
- Biography
- True story
