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The Railway Man ... Movie


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I've just ordered the book from Kinokuniya - luckily it was in stock, so I'll have it next week sometime. I'm amazed that I'd never heard of the guy until today ... he was born less than 3 miles from me.

 

 

Tom do you know whereabouts in Edinburgh he was born, I am an Edinburgh born lad as well.

 

 

 

Regards

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Maybe Gonzo can confirm your conversation. Until then, I'll just take it that you're abusing your Mod 'powers' again by disclosing confidential info @ a BM's location.

Shit mate, I missed your silly comment about Jacko's integrity. We have known each other for many years and often have a yarn at the expat club on Sundays at the Mercure Hotel in Soi 15. Next time you manage to come back to Pattaya, attend one of our meetings. It might help to broaden your mind.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks I'll definitely catch it.

 

I'm looking forward to it - I've heard good reports. Kidman's other movie, Grace of Monaco, opens in LOS in the first week in June (I think).

 

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Just got back from a saunter along the beach and the 'Gay Superbowl' (the Oscars) is still going on……….. I'm hopeful even without seeing it that Railwayman features next year.

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Just got back from a saunter along the beach and the 'Gay Superbowl' (the Oscars) is still going on……….. I'm hopeful even without seeing it that Railwayman features next year.

 

Just caught the Best Picture bit ... Steve McQueen ain't half changed since The Great Escape! :clueless

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Just caught the Best Picture bit ... Steve McQueen ain't half changed since The Great Escape! :clueless

 

 

This is quite possibly where the transformation began……..

 

 

Edited by atlas2
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  • 1 month later...

I caught this on a flight to London.

 

Good film. Not as tough on the Japs behaviour to prisoners of war as I thought it would be......Doesn't quite maximise the drama either........ But goes someway there. Kidman is great.

 

Lomax's Christian forgiveness, (with church spires in the background) contrasts with the unforgiving inhuman brutality of the Japanese torturers who claim the British and Australians surrender stripped them of all respect.

 

Little twist there at the end.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just saw it today. It finally made it to the overseas possessions.

 

The movie was very intense and very good.

 

I agree it was not close to realistic as to the condition of the POWs as a result of starvation and disease although there were a few suggestions of that. I don't know what the producers thinking was but it may have been that they couldn't be realistic without starving people.

 

On the other hand, there were depictions of direct physical abuse/torture which were about as graphic as is possible without actually injuring somebody. I wonder if those may have been edited out of the version shown in flight. If they weren't edited out, A2 will know exactly what I'm talking about.

 

PTSD is a major topic although the term isn't used and, as far as I remember, wasn't in use in the "now" of 1980, which is the setting for half of the movie.

 

A minor bit of historical revisionism comes when the troops are on the train going north from Singapore and Lomax says he thinks they are in Thailand.

 

Parts of the movie are shot in Thailand around Kachanaburi. I specifically recognized Hellfire Pass and the bridge. Others, including the train station, I have probably seen but don't remember by sight.

 

I found it interesting that Kidman was willing to take the role of a woman who was visibly mature although still attractive.

 

Having seen the movie, I do want to read the book and see how Lomax described the events in the first person.

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A minor bit of historical revisionism comes when the troops are on the train going north from Singapore and Lomax says he thinks they are in Thailand.

 

 

 

The signature of King Mongkut (r. 1851 – 1868) reads SPPM (Somdet Phra Poramenthra Maha) Mongkut King of Siam, giving it official status until 23 June 1939 when it was changed to Thailand.[20] Thailand was renamed Siam from 1945 to 11 May 1949, after which it again reverted to Thailand.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand

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