Patricia (Nicole Kidman) meets railway enthusiast Eric (Colin Firth) and the pair quickly fall in love and marry. But Patricia soon realises that Eric remains deeply traumatised by the suffering he experienced in a Japanese POW camp during World War II. While working on the Thai-Burma Railway he had been tortured by the Japanese military secret police, including their interpreter Takashi Nagase, and was never able to come to terms with the horrors he endured.
It’s an emotional story, extremely well-handled. Firth and Kidman are both excellent. You can really believe they are in love, and the scene in which they first meet, on a train journey, exudes warmth and charm. I wanted more of that. You can also believe how damaged Firth is.
The younger and older depictions of the key characters work well, and the time transitions are elegantly managed.
The ending is unexpectedly satisfying.
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