The Railway Man
During the Second World War, Eric Lomax is a British officer who is captured by the Japanese in Singapore and sent to a Japanese POW camp, where he is forced to work on the Thai-Burma Railway north of the Malay Peninsula. During his time in the camp as one of the Far East prisoners of war, Lomax is tortured by the Kempeitai (military secret police) for building a radio receiver from spare parts. The torture depicted includes beatings, rape and waterboarding. Apparently, he had fallen under suspicion of being a spy, for supposedly using the British news broadcast receiver as a transmitter of military intelligence. In fact, however, his only intention had been to use the device as a morale booster for himself and his fellow prisoner-slaves.
Years later, and still suffering the psychological trauma of his wartime experiences, with the help of his wife Patricia and best friend Finlay, Lomax decides to find and confront one of his captors who had escaped prosecution as a war criminal. Lomax returns to the scene of his torture after he has tracked down Japanese secret police officer Takashi Nagase, "in an attempt to let go of a lifetime of bitterness and hate". When he finally confronts his former captor, he first asks questions similar to how his captors interrogated him years before. The situation builds up to he nearly whacks Nagase, but instead breaks furniture in anger. Soon after, Lomax pushes the officer into a human cage, where many POWs were previously kept.
Nagase soon reveals that the Japanese (including himself) were brainwashed into thinking the war would be a victorious one for them, and how he never knew the high casualties caused by the Imperial Japanese Army. Lomax eventually frees Nagase, and throws his knife into the nearby river. He then returns to Britain.
After an indefinite period of time, Lomax returns with his wife, Patricia, to Thailand. He meets up with Nagase once again, and after an apology, which he accepts, the two become friends. The epilogue tells that Lomax and Nagase stayed friends until their deaths in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
revenge, violence, flashback