The Railway Man (2013) Movie Script
(FOREBODING MUSIC)
ERIC: At the beginning of time
the clock struck one.
A drop of dew
and the clock struck two.
From the dew grew a tree
and the clock struck three.
Then the tree made a door
and the clock struck four.
Then man came alive
and the clock struck five.
Count not
waste not
the hours on the clock.
Behold I stand
at the door and knock.
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(CLICKS OF TRAIN WHEELS ON TRACKS)
(MUSIC STOPS)
Is that a new Bradshaw's, Eric?
Or one of your world famous collection
of out of date railway timetables?
(THE MEN CHUCKLE)
I have a small problem...
which I suspect this gathering
might find interesting.
Last Thursday
I was returning from a book
auction in Chester
and, learning of a delay
on the Manchester-Edinburgh line,
found it necessary to make a rapid
adjustment to my itinerary,
leaving me just three minutes
to change platforms at Crewe.
(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
CONDUCTOR: Tickets from Crewe.
Tickets from Crewe.
You're on the wrong train, sir.
This is for Glasgow.
The Edinburgh train... It's delayed.
I thought
if I got your train as far
as Carstairs I ought to be
in time to catch
the Manchester-Edinburgh on it's way up.
That should work.
Enjoy your journey, sir.
Tickets from Crewe.
I could have done with you
this morning, in Taunton.
Straight forward enough, surely?
Train down to Bristol Temple Meads...
The Bristol train was cancelled.
Well in that case you could
take it across to...
A friend gave me a lift.
I see. And he gave
me a timetable.
(PATTI LAUGHS)
Look at this...
He marked all of the interesting
things on the map.
Did you know...
Warrington was famous for vodka?
It's also the birthplace
of George Formby.
Hmm... is it really?
Most people assume it was Wigan.
Or Formby.
But it was Warrington.
You know, with all due respect to your friend,
if all he's mentioned is vodka,
he's really only scratched
the surface of Warrington.
The Black Prince.
Remember the Black Prince?
Had all his armour made there.
Warrington was really the only place
to go if you wanted a suit of armour.
A sort of Saville Row in steel.
(LAUGHS)
Goodness!
Maybe we should get off,
take a look around.
Well if think Warrington's interesting,
you wait till we get to Preston.
(LIGHT MUSIC)
Lancaster,
known as the Hanging Town.
Lancaster Assizes hanged more
people than any court in the land,
except for London.
That's Carnforth.
That's where they filmed
Brief Encounter, apparently.
You're too young to remember
that, of course.
Well my Aunt went to see it
with a girlfriend and a couple of sailors,
and she told me that...
whenever the actress...
Celia Johnson. Celia Johnson...
got a bit tearful,
the sailors would shout,
"Come on, Trevor. Give her one!"
Sorry.
I've gone too far.
Promise I'll behave
better from now on.
(LAUGHS)
(CLEARS HER THROAT)
I've never been to the Highlands
before, so suddenly... um...
well finding myself single
again, so to speak,
I... I thought
I'd like to see them.
So I'm going to go up as far as Mallaig
by train and then I'm catching
the coach to Inverness
and coming down the other side.
What do you think?
The West Coast
is extraordinarily beautiful.
You might well fall
in love with it.
And if I were to fall
in love, what then?
Well instead of a coach
to Inverness,
you might consider taking the line
back to Tyndrum and changing for Oban.
And from there you can get
any number of boat trips:
Iona, Staffa.
It's very romantic.
Are you romantic?
I have to be in Edinburgh...
by Wednesday.
ANNOUNCER: Carstairs,
now approaching.
Carstairs. Carstairs.
So it is.
It was very nice to meet you.
You were an unexpected bonus.
Well.
Thank you again.
ERIC: And so you see,
I am forced to the unlikely
conclusion,
that I've fallen in love.
(MUSIC PAUSES)
So?
What are you going to do?
Would you excuse
me for a moment?
There are only two trains from Inverness
to Edinburgh on Wednesdays...
(MUSIC RESUMES)
ANNOUNCER: Edinburgh Waverley,
this is Edinburgh Waverley.
(MUSIC STOPS)
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. Ah...
This is a surprise.
What a coincidence.
Are you catching this train?
Yes, I am.
Well it's just that it
terminates here.
It's not entirely a coincidence.
It's not entirely a surprise.
I'm not really used
to entertaining, as you'll see.
What are you doing?
I was just going
to give it a stir.
Good heavens.
But the bottom of the pan's going
to burn... Sit down.
So masterful.
(TICKING)
Masterful but wrong.
We shall see.
I might nip out for a Brillo
pad for the burn marks
on the bottom of the pan.
Don't move.
Why not?
Because I'm looking at you.
(TIMER SOUNDS OFF)
Perfect.
You're making quite
a meal of this.
That was the general idea.
You know, I was wondering.
I've never kissed a man
with a moustache before.
Hmm...
And I don't think I'm going to kiss
a man with a moustache again.
Hmm.
And if the man removed
the moustache?
Yes, that would do nicely.
(LAUGHS)
(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
I'm just going to keep looking
into those lovely brown eyes.
Why?
I don't know.
Takes my mind off the broken
teeth and the shabby clothes.
Not quite so shabby
today, actually.
Better get them off so
I don't get confused, then.
If you think that's a good idea.
M-hmm.
I'm so happy.
(MUSIC STOPS)
(WATER TRICKLES)
(BOOT STEPS IN)
(FOREBODING ORIENTAL MUSIC)
Get dressed, Lomax.
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
No, no, no.
No!
The war's over!
Not for you, Lomax.
No! No! This way, please.
Please... no!
Eric! Oh, God!
(ERIC CONTINUES YELLING IN AGONY)
(STATIC IN EARPHONES)
VOICE FROM EARPHONES: Help us!
For the love of God, someone help us!
(YELLS AND SHOUTS FROM EARPHONES CONTINUE)
Gentlemen.
You have all fought valiantly.
You are a credit
to your country.
But I have to inform you
that General Percival has decided,
under the circumstances,
to negotiate, as it were,
a ceasefire.
He's thrown in the towel, sir?
What happens to us?
Thorlby!
We are still a fighting unit
and you will do what you're told.
You can start by destroying anything
that might be of value to the enemy.
Quickly, gentlemen.
Lomax.
What are you doing?
Might come in handy, sir.
(SCOFFS)
(SUSPENSFUL DRUM ROLLS)
(AEROPLANE ENGINES RUMBLE)
Christ almighty.
(TANK ENGINES RUMBLE)
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
Lomax, my friend,
I think we have just witnessed
the fall of the British Empire.
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
You will number off!
Beginning with number one.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Jack.
Queen.
King.
Ace.
(COMMANDS IN JAPANESE)
(SOMBRE MUSIC INTERRUPTED
WITH SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
Good?
(COMMANDS IN JAPANESE)
(HEAVY DOORS CLOSE)
(METAL CLANG, SILENCE)
(SLOW MUSIC)
(DISTANT WAVES)
So what do you think?
I don't want to take
over completely.
You're tired. Do you
want a cup of tea?
(MUSIC STOPS)
(DISTANT THUNDER)
(BREATHES RAPIDLY)
Eric?
(CLATTER)
What have you done?
I decided, on reflection, I preferred
things the way they were.
Eric, whatever's wrong, you
can talk to me about it.
Eric.
Please. Never, ever try to interfere
with matters that don't concern you.
There's no objection, I hope?
No. No, of course not.
(KNOCKS)
Eric?
I was just wondering
if you'd paid these bills.
(LOW FOREBODING MUSIC)
Eric?
Eric.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Mrs. Lomax? Mike Moffat,
Northumberland Debt Recovery.
Non-payment of rates.
These gentlemen are here to help me.
Is Mr. Lomax at home?
Non-payment?
That's right, madam.
You may be aware we have visited
on two previous occasions.
No. No, I wasn't aware.
Look, my husband...
And those visits were made
after all attempts to communicate
with Mr.
Lomax by post had failed.
I'm sorry, I really know
nothing about this.
But if you could possibly
leave it with me.
My husband is slightly
disorganised sometimes...
Are you in a position to make
a payment now, madam?
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
We are authorised to enter
the property and make
an inventory of goods.
You can't come in here.
Eric. No!
(SCREAM)
Drop it! No, please!
Drop the knife!
Drop it, sir!
Eric!
Eric, stop!
Please, why won't
you talk to me?
Eric!
(MUSIC SLOWS DOWN)
Eric, we can't live like this.
No, leave me. I'm fine!
(BRAKES LIGHTLY SQUEAL)
Fourteenth
of next month, Burton.
Same time. Alright.
Put it in your diary.
Aye, thank you Uncle.
Mr. Finlay.
Mrs. Lomax.
I want to know
what happened to Eric.
You have to talk to Eric.
I have.
And he changes the subject...
whenever we get close to...
He gets as far as the fall of Singapore
and then he just... he shuts down.
(SIGHS)
And then he won't...
he won't talk about the railway.
There's...
I don't know.
(TAKES DEEP BREATH)
I was a nurse.
Twenty years.
I've seen... a lot of suffering.
You can do something
if you know what's wrong.
I'm sorry I can't help you
play Florence Nightingale.
But a lot of men went through something
you can't even begin to imagine.
You're going to have to let us
just get on and cope with it
as best we can.
My husband isn't coping.
He's a mess.
War leaves a mark, Mrs. Lomax.
But I don't believe in this
code of silence that you have.
I really don't.
And you may be determined to stay
screwed up and suffer for the rest
of your life, but I don't want
that for Eric. And I can't live like that.
He's a wonderful man.
I've seen it.
I love him and I want him back.
When we came home,
Eric couldn't handle it.
So he joined
the Colonial Service,
and built a dam in Africa.
(CHUCKLES)
He wrote to me saying
they had a narrow gauge
railway system and badly needed
more engines and rolling stock.
But only the Japanese
had the right kind,
so he was going to do without.
When he came back, he'd...
he'd come to these meetings
and just sit there.
Didn't talk at all.
He did anything
to avoid people.
Went round and round the country
collecting railway memorabilia.
I think that's how he met you.
His whole life has been trains.
(TRAIN SLOWLY RUMBLES INTO MOTION)
(FAST PACED MUSIC)
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
(TRAIN THUMPS TO A HALT)
(LOW STEAM HISS)
BRITISH SOLDIERS: Here! Here!
Here!
Water!
Here!
(LOW CHATTER IN JAPANESE)
Here! Water, please!
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
(CRASH)
(TRAIN SQUEALS INTO MOTION)
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(STEAM HISS, WHEELS SQUEAL, TRAIN STOPS)
(DOOR OPENS, JAPANESE SOLDIER YELLS)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
Fall in, men. Don't lag behind.
(MUSIC PAUSES)
(JAPANESE YELLS)
(SOUNDS OF DIGGING AND HAMMERING)
(FOREBODING MUSIC)
(THUD, YELL)
(THUD)
(MUSIC STOPS)
- (ORDERS IN JAPANESE,
- THEN:) Attention!
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
You very lucky boys.
You engineers.
You here to help us.
If you help good,
you will have a good war here,
in this good place.
If you don't help us,
you will go back up the line.
Up the line is not a good place.
Now one by one do
number, please.
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
One. Two.
Three. Four.
Five. Six.
Seven. Eight.
Nine. Ten.
Eleven.
Twelve.
Thirteen. Fourteen.
Fifteen. Who surrendered?
I never surrendered.
We should still be
out there fighting, now.
We're not fighting, are we?
We're working for the Japanese.
I'm not working
for the bloody Japanese.
We should get out of here.
Organise.
Fight back.
Escape?
There's more of us than them.
We could stroll out.
All of us. Calm down, Thorlby.
It's easy enough to walk out.
Then what?
Where would you go?
Well we must be somewhere.
We haven't fallen
off the edge of the world.
Er... sir?
Why don't you sit here?
Well I counted four days,
north, from Singapore
up towards Bangkok,
which would put us
somewhere about here.
Then we turned west.
So?
Well there is no railway
line west of Bangkok.
At least there wasn't
before the war.
How do you know, Lomax?
Well you see, the British...
they thought about building
a railway that would run
all the way from where we are here
in Thailand into Burma.
It would complete a line running
all the way from China to India.
If they'd managed it, it would have
taken it's place alongside
the great railway
journeys of the world.
Canadian Pacific.
Trans-Siberian.
The Orient Express.
Yeah?
Well why didn't they build it?
Well...
building a railway,
is a hard, miserable job.
It's usually done by poor
immigrant workers.
The great American railways
were built by Chinese peasants.
And even the British railways,
they were built by Irish
navvies fleeing from famine.
But sometimes,
a railway is simply too
difficult to build.
Well it's hundred of Miles
to Burma...
through mountains and jungle.
The British decided,
that to build such a railway,
it would be an act
not of engineering,
but of extreme barbarity...
and cruelty.
The conditions
would be such that...
those who did not die,
might well wish that they had.
To build such a railway you would need
more than just poor immigrants.
You'd need an army...
of slaves.
And we've just become that army.
We are not slaves.
We are soldiers.
You remember that.
And we are going to do our best
for those poor bastards up the line.
Lomax, Withins,
how are we fixed for a radio?
(MODERATE INTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
Lomax.
(IN JAPANESE)
That should be the one.
There we go.
There it is.
Did you get it?
Here.
That's good.
We need a battery, but, Lomax...
what else do we need?
Well I can work on an aerial.
But we must have the capacitor.
Who got that?
Jackson, I think.
But he's up the line.
Oh, great.
Major?
(METAL CLINKS)
Major York?
It's Lomax, sir.
Signals.
(THUD)
(WHIMPERS)
(GROANS)
What's the problem?
She's knackered, mate.
Just like the rest of us.
Jackson...
(ENGINE CHUGS)
(HISS)
(JAPANESE SOLDIERS SHOUT)
It's, um, very beautiful.
What's it called?
The river?
(MUSIC STOPS)
Ah... Maenam Kwae Yai.
Maenam Kwae Yai?
Maenam Kwae Yai.
Thank you.
Maenam Kwae Yai.
Maenam Kwai Yai.
(CRICKETS CHIRP)
(FOREBODING MUSIC)
(STARTER TURNING ENGINE)
(SOLDIER IN JAPANESE)
No good. Yeah.
(SOLDIER IN JAPANESE)
(TURNS ON STARTER)
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(CRACKLE)
Ready?
What if Hitler's in London?
What do we tell the men?
I can't say it
sounds very likely.
It's running!
(STATIC)
(TUNING)
(MUSIC OVER RADIO)
It's working.
ANNOUNCER: This is the BBC
Home and Forces program.
This is Bruce Belfidge.
The Axis forces
in the Western Desert
after twelve days and nights
of ceaseless attacks
by our land and air forces
are now in full retreat.
Their disordered columns
are being relentlessly attacked
by our land forces and by the Allied
air forces by day and night.
In the morning
there was a rumour
that German tanks were
just over the hill.
Armed patrols went
out on the road.
Trees were felled at roadblocks
and thunderbolts and lightning appeared
low over the town and began weaving...
(ANNOUNCER'S VOICE FADES)
ANNOUNCER: What we have
done is rekindle a fire
in British hearts
here and all over the world
which will glow...
(ANNOUNCER'S VOICE SLOWLY FADES)
Major... Major York.
The Russians have
retaken Stalingrad.
Got them on the run, sir.
Sir?
Come on, sir.
We've got Hitler on the run.
That's it, sir.
And we're bombing
Germany 24 hours a day,
now the US Air Force
has joined in.
(JAPANESE SOLDIER SHOUTS)
The men, sir, right?
You've got to let them
know it's going our way.
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
We've got Hitler on the run.
Pass it round.
The Russians have
taken Stalingrad.
Be careful.
ANNOUNCER: Went on fighting
until they had little ammunition left.
Our troops in the north
put down a smokescreen
and under cover
they withdrew a little
while our bombers went
in in three deadly waves
to deliver a large aerial
bombardment and one
of the heaviest
of the whole campaign.
They rang the church bells at home for the first
time since the beginning of the war.
(DISTANT CHIMES)
(BELL ALARM)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(FOREBODING MUSIC)
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
(EXCHANGE OF ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
(PANTS)
(JAPANESE OFFICER YELLS)
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(JAPANESE OFFICER SHOUTS)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
Thorlby.
Finlay.
Withins.
Lomax.
Lomax!
(TRUCK ENGINE ROARS)
(ENGINE STOPS)
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
Soldier.
(THUD, GROAN)
(WITHINS COUGHS)
(WITHINS SCREAMS, MOANS)
(WITHINS SCREAMS)
(WITHINS GROANS, THEN COUGHS)
(BEATINGS, GROANS AND SCREAMS CONTINUE)
(SLOW MUSIC)
I think it was the bravest
thing I've ever seen.
(MUSIC BUILDS UP, NO OTHER SOUNDS)
(MUSIC SLOWS DOWN)
ROGERS: Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil.
For thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me.
Thou prepares the table for me
in the presence of my enemies.
Surely goodness and...
(SIGHS)
Mercy will follow me
for the rest of my life.
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(JAPANESE SOLDIER GROWLS)
(MUSIC SLOWS DOWN)
It was...
madness.
(SIGHS)
But you can talk about it.
Why can't he talk
to me about it?
(MUSIC STOPS)
I told you, you couldn't possibly
imagine what he's been through.
What did I say? What?
Please, please.
Please don't shut me out.
Please.
(WHEEZES)
FINLAY: We had him
for a little while.
A week or so.
We did our best to put
him back together again.
But we knew it wasn't over.
They came for him.
The young officer.
Kempeitai.
Their secret police.
Lomax. We are satisfied
you are guilty.
You will be killed shortly,
but it will be to your advantage
to tell me the truth.
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
Raise your arms.
You will come with me.
(FAST PACED MUSIC, MOTORBIKE ENGINE)
(MUSIC STOPS)
And then we didn't see
him for two weeks.
(SIGHS)
(JAPANESE SOLDIERS GROAN)
FINLAY: He never told me
what they did to him.
(SLOW MUSIC)
(TRUCK ENGINE STARTS)
There are some things,
Patti, that are so bad,
so humiliating and...
shameful...
I'm not sure you could
ever talk about them.
Especially not
to someone you love.
Or want to love.
I have to try.
(SLOW MUSIC)
(RADIO TUNING)
(SLOW CLASSICAL MUSIC FROM THE RADIO)
Patti.
Eric.
(TURNS OFF RADIO)
(DOOR SLAMS)
I hope you're not planning
to throw yourself in there.
As a gentleman I'd feel
obliged to go in after you,
and that may well
be the end of me.
The men used to call me Uncle.
They thought
I'd look after them,
and I did, while we were there.
But here...
every month I stare
into those...
bitter, half-awake faces,
and I know they desperately need me
to put them back together again.
But I can't.
There's nothing I can
do for them now.
I think you do more
than you know.
Eric did something wonderful.
He stuck his neck out
to give us hope in a nightmare
5,000 Miles from home.
He should have...
medals and glory.
Can't you make him
understand that?
No.
It's too late.
The only time I've seen him light
up was when you came along.
Patti...
I have something.
I think it's the most
dangerous thing I've ever
held in my hand.
You must decide...
if Eric should see it.
It's him.
The young Kempeitai officer.
And he's alive.
Nagase.
I don't know what he will do...
if we tell him.
But doesn't Eric
deserve a chance...
for justice?
Will you stand by him?
Whatever he does?
(SLOW MUSIC)
Whatever he does.
I want to.
I can't imagine anything
worse than where he is now.
(THUD)
It's him, isn't it?
The bastard's back in Kanburi.
Back at the scene of the crime.
Can you believe that?
He's alive?
And he's living off it!
Showing the railway to tourists.
Bridge on the bloody
River Kwai holidays.
Nagase.
I've had it translated.
(HEART BEAT STARTS TO RACE, THEN SLOWS DOWN)
Look him up.
He won't have a clue
you're coming.
Element of surprise, Eric.
Always good.
The years I've spent,
imagining I'd found him.
Making him beg.
Making him scream.
I've nursed myself
to sleep on those sounds.
And the snapping of the hyoid bone,
and the chopstick through the eye.
Your timing's off.
What do you mean?
We're not soldiers
anymore, Uncle.
We're bank clerks,
school teachers,
engineers, retired persons.
If you'd come to me with this a year
ago, I'd have hunted him down.
But now I'm a husband.
And she means everything to me.
No husband would treat
her the way you do.
You punish her.
You punish her!
When we surrendered, the Japs
said we weren't men.
Real men would kill themselves.
Would die of shame.
But we said no.
We'll live to fight you.
We'll live for revenge.
But we didn't, no.
We don't live.
We're miming in the choir.
We can't love.
We can't sleep.
We're an army of ghosts.
What happened in that room?
What did they do to you?
I think you should go now.
Don't waste this.
At least one of us
deserves some peace.
It's too late for me
and the other guys but...
you were the strongest.
You were the best of us.
You do this for me.
(SLOW MUSIC)
Please.
Come on. We're walking
Finlay to the station.
You... you want me
to come with you?
I thought we'd take him along the front,
give him a little tour.
I'm not a train spotter.
I'm a railway enthusiast.
You know we met on a train.
You can't just say "a train"
when you're talking about Eric.
You have to say which train,
when it was built
where it was stopping,
how many wheels it had.
(MUSIC STOPS)
(PATTI CHUCKLES)
I'm going to send him a message.
Something he won't
be able to ignore.
(STATION MASTER WHISTLES)
(SLOW MUSIC)
(TRAIN SIREN SOUNDS OFF,
DIESEL ENGINE INTENSIFIES)
(PHONE RINGS)
Yes?
(ROPE STRAINS, FINLAY GURGLES)
Oh, my God.
Alright, thank you.
(PATTI HANGS UP)
It's Finlay...
Where?
Er... Warminster.
He must have caught the Birmingham
train, changed at...
(WHISPERS:)
Stop it. Stop it!
This is what you're
going to do, isn't it?
Isn't that what you want?
I've seen you with him.
Your secret little chats.
That's what happens when
you start interfering.
Hope you're happy.
(DOOR SLAMS)
PRIEST: May he have peace
with God through our Lord,
Jesus Christ, and rejoice
in the hope of the Glory of God
and not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also
knowing that tribulation
worketh patience
and patience, experience
and experience, hope...
(PRIEST'S VOICE FADES)
One.
Two.
Three.
Four. Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Jack.
Queen.
King.
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(MUSIC SLOWS DOWN)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(KNIFE SLITHES)
NAGASE TO TOURISTS: The flowers
are an offering for the Mother of Waters.
They symbolise the desire
to atone for any evil
that the pilgrim
has done in life.
TOURIST: I thought all the Buddhas
were fat and jolly.
NAGASE: No. The fat Buddha
is not this Buddha.
This Buddha
is Siddhartha Guatama.
The great Buddha, the Founder.
The fat one is a monk.
He is called Putai.
Buddha is not a name.
It is a title,
like your Saint, perhaps.
Come this way, please.
I am from Japan.
I come to this place
on a pilgrimage.
This is my 57th pilgrimage.
This area was occupied
by my country during the war.
(OMINOUS MUSIC)
(MUSICAL STRESS)
We are going to the War
Museum over in Kempeitai.
Thanks for coming.
See you.
Thank you, please.
(DOOR SQUEAKS)
(MUSIC STOPS)
Sir.
I'm afraid the museum is closed.
I've come a very long way.
I have a particular interest
in knowing what happened here.
What happened to these men?
It will be open again
tomorrow morning.
Perhaps you could return then?
I'm afraid this won't
keep till tomorrow.
I'm surprised you
don't recognise me.
Sit down, Mr. Nagase.
Mister...
Lomax.
We won't be needing
an interpreter this time.
Of course, that wasn't your real
function last time, was it?
You will be killed shortly.
But it will be to your advantage
to answer my questions in the meantime.
How can it be to my advantage?
Your friends have already
admitted to building a radio...
in order to conspire
with our enemy.
They also said that you're
the ringleader of the plot.
He can do a lot worse...
than to kill you.
(OFFICER IN JAPANESE)
We want to know about the map.
Why did you draw a map?
Well it's a map of the railway.
He knows that.
Who's it for?
For me. It's the railway.
We know it is the railway.
Why did you draw a map
of the railway?
I'm a railway enthusiast.
Enthusiast?
I like trains.
I really like trains.
You used this
to communicate with.
Thai Resistance
and their Chinese paymasters.
No, I didn't.
How could I do that?
You received information and then
passed it on to them with this.
How could I do that?
I am asking the questions.
You must answer them.
But it's a receiver.
It receives signals.
It doesn't transmit them.
How can you transmit
with a receiver?
You built this transmitter to tell
the Chinese about our railway!
So...
Which bit do you talk into?
Well if it's a transmitter you
need to talk into it. Where?
You do not ask questions.
I ask questions.
You answer the questions.
I'm just trying to help you.
(TALKS IN JAPANESE)
(REPLIES IN JAPANESE)
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
(FOREBODING MUSIC)
(SOLDIER ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
Thank you.
(OFFICER SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
Just tell them.
Or they will make you tell them.
First personal singular, not
third person plural. You...
tortured me, you see, not they.
You.
They were afraid you were...
No, you is second person.
You need the first person.
I tortured you,
Lieutenant Lomax.
Try it. I...
I am at a loss.
I want to ask... No, no,
you don't ask. I ask.
I ask the questions. You answer.
Why did you build the radio?
Who helped you
to build the radio?
No one.
No one helped us.
We built it ourselves. Liar.
You tell lies.
Why did you build the radio?!
To...
To listen to.
To hear voices.
To know what was happening
at home.
(SMASH, GROAN)
(SPEAKS JAPANESE IN LOW THREATENING VOICE)
At the beginning of time
the clock struck one.
Then dropped the dew
and the clock struck two.
(THUD, GROAN)
Who asked you to draw the map?
From the dew grew a tree
and the clock struck three.
Where did you get
the components for the radio?
(THUD, SCREAM)
Then the tree made a door
and the clock struck four.
No!
Man came alive
and the clock struck five.
(THUD)
Count not.
Waste not
the hours on the clock.
Behold I stand
at the door and knock.
(MUSIC CRESCENDO, SOLDIER SHOUTS)
(OFFICER ORDERS)
(MUSIC STOPS)
I did not expect
you to be alive.
No, of course you didn't.
You thought you'd got away with it.
Why are you alive?
Why are we alive?
No, you.
Why are you alive?
You were a war criminal.
Why didn't they hang you?
Not a war criminal.
Just an interpreter.
You were Kempeitai,
you knew everything!
Why did they let you live?
(BUZZING OF FLIES, FOREBODING MUSIC)
SOLDIER: Easy does it.
(PLANE ENGINES ROAR)
THOMPSON: Now listen.
We intend to treat you fairly.
We are civilised human beings,
but we do need to see
that justice is done.
You're going to be transferred
to Bangkok while we look
into some of the charges
that have been made against you.
(SPEAKS IN JAPANESE)
Translator?
Yes, sir.
Kempeitai?
No, sir.
Translator.
Did you work for the Kempeitai?
Torture? Beatings?
Only translation.
Over there.
NAGASE: I worked for the War
Graves Commission.
They needed interpreters.
We travelled the railway.
We find dead bodies.
(DOLEFUL MUSIC)
(DIGGING SOUNDS)
We identified them.
We brought them here
to be buried properly.
So you went up the line.
You buried the men you helped to kill.
That's when I saw...
so many bodies.
(VOICE TREMBLES)
So very many.
I had not imagined
so many had died.
Murdered.
The word you're looking
for is murdered.
So many had been murdered.
Go on.
Murdered.
Yes.
That's what I saw.
So many murdered.
So I will speak.
I make pilgrimages.
I work for...
reconciliation.
I will not let them forget...
the tragedy of war.
The what?
The tragedy of war.
No, this wasn't a tragedy.
This was a crime.
You're not tragic.
You're a criminal.
You were an intelligent,
educated man
and you did nothing.
You're a criminal and a liar.
Mr. Lomax...
Through my work here
I have found
some peace in my life.
If I can help you...
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
Mr. Lomax.
I'm trying to answer these questions
because you are asking them.
But I don't think these questions
are the right questions!
(GASPS)
(RHYTMICALLY ACCENTED MUSIC)
(WATER TRICKLES)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(SLOW MUSIC)
(WATER TRICKLES)
(MUFFLED WATERFLOW)
(SPLASH, GARGLE)
(CHOKES)
(COUGHS)
(ORDERES IN JAPANESE)
No!
(CHOKES)
(SCREAMS)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(SCREAMS)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(COUGHS)
(OFFICER ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(CHOKES)
(SCREAMS)
Mother! Mother! Mother!
Why won't you help me? Mother!
Mother!
Alright!
Alright, I'll tell you!
I'll tell you.
I'll tell you, I'll tell you.
I'll tell you.
ORDERS IN JAPANESE: I'll tell
you, I'll tell you.
I'll tell you everything
we heard on the radio.
I'll tell you the truth.
While you're here
building your railway
American submarines
are destroying your shipping.
There's shortages of food
and fuel all over Japan.
American planes
are bombing your cities,
destroying your Bridges,
your roads,
your hospitals.
And there's no one to stop them.
Your homes are burning
and your families are starving.
That is what I heard
on the radio.
You're a liar.
You tell lies.
You have no honour.
Your army is defeated.
You surrender like dogs.
Look at you.
You should be ashamed
to be alive.
If my army was defeated,
I would take my life
to save my honour.
You're getting your chance.
Any day now.
(SPEAKS IN JAPANESE)
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
(SLAP, NAGASE YELLS)
(SLOW MUSIC)
(MUSIC STOPS)
My mother was already
dead, as it happens.
All through the war,
I wrote letters home
to a dead woman.
What do you tell people?
About what you did to us?
We do not talk about it.
No one will talk about it.
Nor do we.
And you know why?
Because no one would believe it.
No one would believe
what you did to us.
You treated us like animals
because we surrendered.
You said you'd rather die...
than live without honour.
But you didn't die.
It was a lie they told us.
It was all lies.
(SNIFFS)
That we would win.
We would have honour.
They lied to us.
Only you told me the truth.
No matter what we did to you,
you held on.
You showed me that
nothing's worth more
than this life.
Finlay...
He was my friend.
He was a prisoner here.
He put your life in my hands.
He wanted an end to this.
Maybe...
that is why I am alive.
For this day.
Maybe we both lived...
for this day.
(SLOW MUSIC)
You can make an end.
You are a soldier, Lomax.
You never surrendered.
I'm still at war.
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(MUSIC PAUSES)
(MUSIC SLOWLY RESUMES)
I thought I'd lost you.
When Finlay died, I was scared.
I was scared that the same
might happen to you.
It was different for Finlay.
He didn't have you.
NAGASE: Dear Mr. Lomax,
I was a member of the Imperial
Japanese Army.
We treated you and your countrymen
very, very badly.
It is a long time
since the war ended,
but for me
it is a time of suffering.
The dagger of our meeting
thrust deep into my heart.
I never forgot you.
I remember your face,
your arms,
your eyes.
I have to go back.
I want you to come with me.
(MUSIC STOPS, BIRDS CHIRP)
I wouldn't have
lasted a day here.
If you'd been here,
you'd have caused quite a stir.
You'd have outlasted
the lot of us.
(DISTANT THUNDER)
(SLOWLY RAIN BEGINS TO FALL)
I am sorry.
So sorry.
I don't want to live
that day anymore.
Neither do I.
(SLOW MUSIC)
Dear Mr. Nagase,
the war has
been over for many years.
I have suffered much.
But I know you
have suffered too.
(SOBS)
And you have
been most courageous
and brave
in working for reconciliation.
Sorry.
While I cannot forget
what happened in Kanchanaburi,
I assure you
of my total forgiveness.
Sometime the hating has to stop.
(MUSIC STOPS)
ERIC: At the beginning of time
the clock struck one.
A drop of dew
and the clock struck two.
From the dew grew a tree
and the clock struck three.
Then the tree made a door
and the clock struck four.
Then man came alive
and the clock struck five.
Count not
waste not
the hours on the clock.
Behold I stand
at the door and knock.
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(CLICKS OF TRAIN WHEELS ON TRACKS)
(MUSIC STOPS)
Is that a new Bradshaw's, Eric?
Or one of your world famous collection
of out of date railway timetables?
(THE MEN CHUCKLE)
I have a small problem...
which I suspect this gathering
might find interesting.
Last Thursday
I was returning from a book
auction in Chester
and, learning of a delay
on the Manchester-Edinburgh line,
found it necessary to make a rapid
adjustment to my itinerary,
leaving me just three minutes
to change platforms at Crewe.
(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
CONDUCTOR: Tickets from Crewe.
Tickets from Crewe.
You're on the wrong train, sir.
This is for Glasgow.
The Edinburgh train... It's delayed.
I thought
if I got your train as far
as Carstairs I ought to be
in time to catch
the Manchester-Edinburgh on it's way up.
That should work.
Enjoy your journey, sir.
Tickets from Crewe.
I could have done with you
this morning, in Taunton.
Straight forward enough, surely?
Train down to Bristol Temple Meads...
The Bristol train was cancelled.
Well in that case you could
take it across to...
A friend gave me a lift.
I see. And he gave
me a timetable.
(PATTI LAUGHS)
Look at this...
He marked all of the interesting
things on the map.
Did you know...
Warrington was famous for vodka?
It's also the birthplace
of George Formby.
Hmm... is it really?
Most people assume it was Wigan.
Or Formby.
But it was Warrington.
You know, with all due respect to your friend,
if all he's mentioned is vodka,
he's really only scratched
the surface of Warrington.
The Black Prince.
Remember the Black Prince?
Had all his armour made there.
Warrington was really the only place
to go if you wanted a suit of armour.
A sort of Saville Row in steel.
(LAUGHS)
Goodness!
Maybe we should get off,
take a look around.
Well if think Warrington's interesting,
you wait till we get to Preston.
(LIGHT MUSIC)
Lancaster,
known as the Hanging Town.
Lancaster Assizes hanged more
people than any court in the land,
except for London.
That's Carnforth.
That's where they filmed
Brief Encounter, apparently.
You're too young to remember
that, of course.
Well my Aunt went to see it
with a girlfriend and a couple of sailors,
and she told me that...
whenever the actress...
Celia Johnson. Celia Johnson...
got a bit tearful,
the sailors would shout,
"Come on, Trevor. Give her one!"
Sorry.
I've gone too far.
Promise I'll behave
better from now on.
(LAUGHS)
(CLEARS HER THROAT)
I've never been to the Highlands
before, so suddenly... um...
well finding myself single
again, so to speak,
I... I thought
I'd like to see them.
So I'm going to go up as far as Mallaig
by train and then I'm catching
the coach to Inverness
and coming down the other side.
What do you think?
The West Coast
is extraordinarily beautiful.
You might well fall
in love with it.
And if I were to fall
in love, what then?
Well instead of a coach
to Inverness,
you might consider taking the line
back to Tyndrum and changing for Oban.
And from there you can get
any number of boat trips:
Iona, Staffa.
It's very romantic.
Are you romantic?
I have to be in Edinburgh...
by Wednesday.
ANNOUNCER: Carstairs,
now approaching.
Carstairs. Carstairs.
So it is.
It was very nice to meet you.
You were an unexpected bonus.
Well.
Thank you again.
ERIC: And so you see,
I am forced to the unlikely
conclusion,
that I've fallen in love.
(MUSIC PAUSES)
So?
What are you going to do?
Would you excuse
me for a moment?
There are only two trains from Inverness
to Edinburgh on Wednesdays...
(MUSIC RESUMES)
ANNOUNCER: Edinburgh Waverley,
this is Edinburgh Waverley.
(MUSIC STOPS)
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. Ah...
This is a surprise.
What a coincidence.
Are you catching this train?
Yes, I am.
Well it's just that it
terminates here.
It's not entirely a coincidence.
It's not entirely a surprise.
I'm not really used
to entertaining, as you'll see.
What are you doing?
I was just going
to give it a stir.
Good heavens.
But the bottom of the pan's going
to burn... Sit down.
So masterful.
(TICKING)
Masterful but wrong.
We shall see.
I might nip out for a Brillo
pad for the burn marks
on the bottom of the pan.
Don't move.
Why not?
Because I'm looking at you.
(TIMER SOUNDS OFF)
Perfect.
You're making quite
a meal of this.
That was the general idea.
You know, I was wondering.
I've never kissed a man
with a moustache before.
Hmm...
And I don't think I'm going to kiss
a man with a moustache again.
Hmm.
And if the man removed
the moustache?
Yes, that would do nicely.
(LAUGHS)
(SLOW INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
I'm just going to keep looking
into those lovely brown eyes.
Why?
I don't know.
Takes my mind off the broken
teeth and the shabby clothes.
Not quite so shabby
today, actually.
Better get them off so
I don't get confused, then.
If you think that's a good idea.
M-hmm.
I'm so happy.
(MUSIC STOPS)
(WATER TRICKLES)
(BOOT STEPS IN)
(FOREBODING ORIENTAL MUSIC)
Get dressed, Lomax.
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
No, no, no.
No!
The war's over!
Not for you, Lomax.
No! No! This way, please.
Please... no!
Eric! Oh, God!
(ERIC CONTINUES YELLING IN AGONY)
(STATIC IN EARPHONES)
VOICE FROM EARPHONES: Help us!
For the love of God, someone help us!
(YELLS AND SHOUTS FROM EARPHONES CONTINUE)
Gentlemen.
You have all fought valiantly.
You are a credit
to your country.
But I have to inform you
that General Percival has decided,
under the circumstances,
to negotiate, as it were,
a ceasefire.
He's thrown in the towel, sir?
What happens to us?
Thorlby!
We are still a fighting unit
and you will do what you're told.
You can start by destroying anything
that might be of value to the enemy.
Quickly, gentlemen.
Lomax.
What are you doing?
Might come in handy, sir.
(SCOFFS)
(SUSPENSFUL DRUM ROLLS)
(AEROPLANE ENGINES RUMBLE)
Christ almighty.
(TANK ENGINES RUMBLE)
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
Lomax, my friend,
I think we have just witnessed
the fall of the British Empire.
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
You will number off!
Beginning with number one.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Jack.
Queen.
King.
Ace.
(COMMANDS IN JAPANESE)
(SOMBRE MUSIC INTERRUPTED
WITH SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
Good?
(COMMANDS IN JAPANESE)
(HEAVY DOORS CLOSE)
(METAL CLANG, SILENCE)
(SLOW MUSIC)
(DISTANT WAVES)
So what do you think?
I don't want to take
over completely.
You're tired. Do you
want a cup of tea?
(MUSIC STOPS)
(DISTANT THUNDER)
(BREATHES RAPIDLY)
Eric?
(CLATTER)
What have you done?
I decided, on reflection, I preferred
things the way they were.
Eric, whatever's wrong, you
can talk to me about it.
Eric.
Please. Never, ever try to interfere
with matters that don't concern you.
There's no objection, I hope?
No. No, of course not.
(KNOCKS)
Eric?
I was just wondering
if you'd paid these bills.
(LOW FOREBODING MUSIC)
Eric?
Eric.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Mrs. Lomax? Mike Moffat,
Northumberland Debt Recovery.
Non-payment of rates.
These gentlemen are here to help me.
Is Mr. Lomax at home?
Non-payment?
That's right, madam.
You may be aware we have visited
on two previous occasions.
No. No, I wasn't aware.
Look, my husband...
And those visits were made
after all attempts to communicate
with Mr.
Lomax by post had failed.
I'm sorry, I really know
nothing about this.
But if you could possibly
leave it with me.
My husband is slightly
disorganised sometimes...
Are you in a position to make
a payment now, madam?
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
We are authorised to enter
the property and make
an inventory of goods.
You can't come in here.
Eric. No!
(SCREAM)
Drop it! No, please!
Drop the knife!
Drop it, sir!
Eric!
Eric, stop!
Please, why won't
you talk to me?
Eric!
(MUSIC SLOWS DOWN)
Eric, we can't live like this.
No, leave me. I'm fine!
(BRAKES LIGHTLY SQUEAL)
Fourteenth
of next month, Burton.
Same time. Alright.
Put it in your diary.
Aye, thank you Uncle.
Mr. Finlay.
Mrs. Lomax.
I want to know
what happened to Eric.
You have to talk to Eric.
I have.
And he changes the subject...
whenever we get close to...
He gets as far as the fall of Singapore
and then he just... he shuts down.
(SIGHS)
And then he won't...
he won't talk about the railway.
There's...
I don't know.
(TAKES DEEP BREATH)
I was a nurse.
Twenty years.
I've seen... a lot of suffering.
You can do something
if you know what's wrong.
I'm sorry I can't help you
play Florence Nightingale.
But a lot of men went through something
you can't even begin to imagine.
You're going to have to let us
just get on and cope with it
as best we can.
My husband isn't coping.
He's a mess.
War leaves a mark, Mrs. Lomax.
But I don't believe in this
code of silence that you have.
I really don't.
And you may be determined to stay
screwed up and suffer for the rest
of your life, but I don't want
that for Eric. And I can't live like that.
He's a wonderful man.
I've seen it.
I love him and I want him back.
When we came home,
Eric couldn't handle it.
So he joined
the Colonial Service,
and built a dam in Africa.
(CHUCKLES)
He wrote to me saying
they had a narrow gauge
railway system and badly needed
more engines and rolling stock.
But only the Japanese
had the right kind,
so he was going to do without.
When he came back, he'd...
he'd come to these meetings
and just sit there.
Didn't talk at all.
He did anything
to avoid people.
Went round and round the country
collecting railway memorabilia.
I think that's how he met you.
His whole life has been trains.
(TRAIN SLOWLY RUMBLES INTO MOTION)
(FAST PACED MUSIC)
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
(TRAIN THUMPS TO A HALT)
(LOW STEAM HISS)
BRITISH SOLDIERS: Here! Here!
Here!
Water!
Here!
(LOW CHATTER IN JAPANESE)
Here! Water, please!
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
(CRASH)
(TRAIN SQUEALS INTO MOTION)
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(STEAM HISS, WHEELS SQUEAL, TRAIN STOPS)
(DOOR OPENS, JAPANESE SOLDIER YELLS)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
Fall in, men. Don't lag behind.
(MUSIC PAUSES)
(JAPANESE YELLS)
(SOUNDS OF DIGGING AND HAMMERING)
(FOREBODING MUSIC)
(THUD, YELL)
(THUD)
(MUSIC STOPS)
- (ORDERS IN JAPANESE,
- THEN:) Attention!
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
You very lucky boys.
You engineers.
You here to help us.
If you help good,
you will have a good war here,
in this good place.
If you don't help us,
you will go back up the line.
Up the line is not a good place.
Now one by one do
number, please.
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
One. Two.
Three. Four.
Five. Six.
Seven. Eight.
Nine. Ten.
Eleven.
Twelve.
Thirteen. Fourteen.
Fifteen. Who surrendered?
I never surrendered.
We should still be
out there fighting, now.
We're not fighting, are we?
We're working for the Japanese.
I'm not working
for the bloody Japanese.
We should get out of here.
Organise.
Fight back.
Escape?
There's more of us than them.
We could stroll out.
All of us. Calm down, Thorlby.
It's easy enough to walk out.
Then what?
Where would you go?
Well we must be somewhere.
We haven't fallen
off the edge of the world.
Er... sir?
Why don't you sit here?
Well I counted four days,
north, from Singapore
up towards Bangkok,
which would put us
somewhere about here.
Then we turned west.
So?
Well there is no railway
line west of Bangkok.
At least there wasn't
before the war.
How do you know, Lomax?
Well you see, the British...
they thought about building
a railway that would run
all the way from where we are here
in Thailand into Burma.
It would complete a line running
all the way from China to India.
If they'd managed it, it would have
taken it's place alongside
the great railway
journeys of the world.
Canadian Pacific.
Trans-Siberian.
The Orient Express.
Yeah?
Well why didn't they build it?
Well...
building a railway,
is a hard, miserable job.
It's usually done by poor
immigrant workers.
The great American railways
were built by Chinese peasants.
And even the British railways,
they were built by Irish
navvies fleeing from famine.
But sometimes,
a railway is simply too
difficult to build.
Well it's hundred of Miles
to Burma...
through mountains and jungle.
The British decided,
that to build such a railway,
it would be an act
not of engineering,
but of extreme barbarity...
and cruelty.
The conditions
would be such that...
those who did not die,
might well wish that they had.
To build such a railway you would need
more than just poor immigrants.
You'd need an army...
of slaves.
And we've just become that army.
We are not slaves.
We are soldiers.
You remember that.
And we are going to do our best
for those poor bastards up the line.
Lomax, Withins,
how are we fixed for a radio?
(MODERATE INTRUMENTAL MUSIC)
Lomax.
(IN JAPANESE)
That should be the one.
There we go.
There it is.
Did you get it?
Here.
That's good.
We need a battery, but, Lomax...
what else do we need?
Well I can work on an aerial.
But we must have the capacitor.
Who got that?
Jackson, I think.
But he's up the line.
Oh, great.
Major?
(METAL CLINKS)
Major York?
It's Lomax, sir.
Signals.
(THUD)
(WHIMPERS)
(GROANS)
What's the problem?
She's knackered, mate.
Just like the rest of us.
Jackson...
(ENGINE CHUGS)
(HISS)
(JAPANESE SOLDIERS SHOUT)
It's, um, very beautiful.
What's it called?
The river?
(MUSIC STOPS)
Ah... Maenam Kwae Yai.
Maenam Kwae Yai?
Maenam Kwae Yai.
Thank you.
Maenam Kwae Yai.
Maenam Kwai Yai.
(CRICKETS CHIRP)
(FOREBODING MUSIC)
(STARTER TURNING ENGINE)
(SOLDIER IN JAPANESE)
No good. Yeah.
(SOLDIER IN JAPANESE)
(TURNS ON STARTER)
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(CRACKLE)
Ready?
What if Hitler's in London?
What do we tell the men?
I can't say it
sounds very likely.
It's running!
(STATIC)
(TUNING)
(MUSIC OVER RADIO)
It's working.
ANNOUNCER: This is the BBC
Home and Forces program.
This is Bruce Belfidge.
The Axis forces
in the Western Desert
after twelve days and nights
of ceaseless attacks
by our land and air forces
are now in full retreat.
Their disordered columns
are being relentlessly attacked
by our land forces and by the Allied
air forces by day and night.
In the morning
there was a rumour
that German tanks were
just over the hill.
Armed patrols went
out on the road.
Trees were felled at roadblocks
and thunderbolts and lightning appeared
low over the town and began weaving...
(ANNOUNCER'S VOICE FADES)
ANNOUNCER: What we have
done is rekindle a fire
in British hearts
here and all over the world
which will glow...
(ANNOUNCER'S VOICE SLOWLY FADES)
Major... Major York.
The Russians have
retaken Stalingrad.
Got them on the run, sir.
Sir?
Come on, sir.
We've got Hitler on the run.
That's it, sir.
And we're bombing
Germany 24 hours a day,
now the US Air Force
has joined in.
(JAPANESE SOLDIER SHOUTS)
The men, sir, right?
You've got to let them
know it's going our way.
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
We've got Hitler on the run.
Pass it round.
The Russians have
taken Stalingrad.
Be careful.
ANNOUNCER: Went on fighting
until they had little ammunition left.
Our troops in the north
put down a smokescreen
and under cover
they withdrew a little
while our bombers went
in in three deadly waves
to deliver a large aerial
bombardment and one
of the heaviest
of the whole campaign.
They rang the church bells at home for the first
time since the beginning of the war.
(DISTANT CHIMES)
(BELL ALARM)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(FOREBODING MUSIC)
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
(EXCHANGE OF ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
(PANTS)
(JAPANESE OFFICER YELLS)
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(JAPANESE OFFICER SHOUTS)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
Thorlby.
Finlay.
Withins.
Lomax.
Lomax!
(TRUCK ENGINE ROARS)
(ENGINE STOPS)
(YELLS IN JAPANESE)
Soldier.
(THUD, GROAN)
(WITHINS COUGHS)
(WITHINS SCREAMS, MOANS)
(WITHINS SCREAMS)
(WITHINS GROANS, THEN COUGHS)
(BEATINGS, GROANS AND SCREAMS CONTINUE)
(SLOW MUSIC)
I think it was the bravest
thing I've ever seen.
(MUSIC BUILDS UP, NO OTHER SOUNDS)
(MUSIC SLOWS DOWN)
ROGERS: Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil.
For thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me.
Thou prepares the table for me
in the presence of my enemies.
Surely goodness and...
(SIGHS)
Mercy will follow me
for the rest of my life.
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(JAPANESE SOLDIER GROWLS)
(MUSIC SLOWS DOWN)
It was...
madness.
(SIGHS)
But you can talk about it.
Why can't he talk
to me about it?
(MUSIC STOPS)
I told you, you couldn't possibly
imagine what he's been through.
What did I say? What?
Please, please.
Please don't shut me out.
Please.
(WHEEZES)
FINLAY: We had him
for a little while.
A week or so.
We did our best to put
him back together again.
But we knew it wasn't over.
They came for him.
The young officer.
Kempeitai.
Their secret police.
Lomax. We are satisfied
you are guilty.
You will be killed shortly,
but it will be to your advantage
to tell me the truth.
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
Raise your arms.
You will come with me.
(FAST PACED MUSIC, MOTORBIKE ENGINE)
(MUSIC STOPS)
And then we didn't see
him for two weeks.
(SIGHS)
(JAPANESE SOLDIERS GROAN)
FINLAY: He never told me
what they did to him.
(SLOW MUSIC)
(TRUCK ENGINE STARTS)
There are some things,
Patti, that are so bad,
so humiliating and...
shameful...
I'm not sure you could
ever talk about them.
Especially not
to someone you love.
Or want to love.
I have to try.
(SLOW MUSIC)
(RADIO TUNING)
(SLOW CLASSICAL MUSIC FROM THE RADIO)
Patti.
Eric.
(TURNS OFF RADIO)
(DOOR SLAMS)
I hope you're not planning
to throw yourself in there.
As a gentleman I'd feel
obliged to go in after you,
and that may well
be the end of me.
The men used to call me Uncle.
They thought
I'd look after them,
and I did, while we were there.
But here...
every month I stare
into those...
bitter, half-awake faces,
and I know they desperately need me
to put them back together again.
But I can't.
There's nothing I can
do for them now.
I think you do more
than you know.
Eric did something wonderful.
He stuck his neck out
to give us hope in a nightmare
5,000 Miles from home.
He should have...
medals and glory.
Can't you make him
understand that?
No.
It's too late.
The only time I've seen him light
up was when you came along.
Patti...
I have something.
I think it's the most
dangerous thing I've ever
held in my hand.
You must decide...
if Eric should see it.
It's him.
The young Kempeitai officer.
And he's alive.
Nagase.
I don't know what he will do...
if we tell him.
But doesn't Eric
deserve a chance...
for justice?
Will you stand by him?
Whatever he does?
(SLOW MUSIC)
Whatever he does.
I want to.
I can't imagine anything
worse than where he is now.
(THUD)
It's him, isn't it?
The bastard's back in Kanburi.
Back at the scene of the crime.
Can you believe that?
He's alive?
And he's living off it!
Showing the railway to tourists.
Bridge on the bloody
River Kwai holidays.
Nagase.
I've had it translated.
(HEART BEAT STARTS TO RACE, THEN SLOWS DOWN)
Look him up.
He won't have a clue
you're coming.
Element of surprise, Eric.
Always good.
The years I've spent,
imagining I'd found him.
Making him beg.
Making him scream.
I've nursed myself
to sleep on those sounds.
And the snapping of the hyoid bone,
and the chopstick through the eye.
Your timing's off.
What do you mean?
We're not soldiers
anymore, Uncle.
We're bank clerks,
school teachers,
engineers, retired persons.
If you'd come to me with this a year
ago, I'd have hunted him down.
But now I'm a husband.
And she means everything to me.
No husband would treat
her the way you do.
You punish her.
You punish her!
When we surrendered, the Japs
said we weren't men.
Real men would kill themselves.
Would die of shame.
But we said no.
We'll live to fight you.
We'll live for revenge.
But we didn't, no.
We don't live.
We're miming in the choir.
We can't love.
We can't sleep.
We're an army of ghosts.
What happened in that room?
What did they do to you?
I think you should go now.
Don't waste this.
At least one of us
deserves some peace.
It's too late for me
and the other guys but...
you were the strongest.
You were the best of us.
You do this for me.
(SLOW MUSIC)
Please.
Come on. We're walking
Finlay to the station.
You... you want me
to come with you?
I thought we'd take him along the front,
give him a little tour.
I'm not a train spotter.
I'm a railway enthusiast.
You know we met on a train.
You can't just say "a train"
when you're talking about Eric.
You have to say which train,
when it was built
where it was stopping,
how many wheels it had.
(MUSIC STOPS)
(PATTI CHUCKLES)
I'm going to send him a message.
Something he won't
be able to ignore.
(STATION MASTER WHISTLES)
(SLOW MUSIC)
(TRAIN SIREN SOUNDS OFF,
DIESEL ENGINE INTENSIFIES)
(PHONE RINGS)
Yes?
(ROPE STRAINS, FINLAY GURGLES)
Oh, my God.
Alright, thank you.
(PATTI HANGS UP)
It's Finlay...
Where?
Er... Warminster.
He must have caught the Birmingham
train, changed at...
(WHISPERS:)
Stop it. Stop it!
This is what you're
going to do, isn't it?
Isn't that what you want?
I've seen you with him.
Your secret little chats.
That's what happens when
you start interfering.
Hope you're happy.
(DOOR SLAMS)
PRIEST: May he have peace
with God through our Lord,
Jesus Christ, and rejoice
in the hope of the Glory of God
and not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also
knowing that tribulation
worketh patience
and patience, experience
and experience, hope...
(PRIEST'S VOICE FADES)
One.
Two.
Three.
Four. Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Jack.
Queen.
King.
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(MUSIC SLOWS DOWN)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(KNIFE SLITHES)
NAGASE TO TOURISTS: The flowers
are an offering for the Mother of Waters.
They symbolise the desire
to atone for any evil
that the pilgrim
has done in life.
TOURIST: I thought all the Buddhas
were fat and jolly.
NAGASE: No. The fat Buddha
is not this Buddha.
This Buddha
is Siddhartha Guatama.
The great Buddha, the Founder.
The fat one is a monk.
He is called Putai.
Buddha is not a name.
It is a title,
like your Saint, perhaps.
Come this way, please.
I am from Japan.
I come to this place
on a pilgrimage.
This is my 57th pilgrimage.
This area was occupied
by my country during the war.
(OMINOUS MUSIC)
(MUSICAL STRESS)
We are going to the War
Museum over in Kempeitai.
Thanks for coming.
See you.
Thank you, please.
(DOOR SQUEAKS)
(MUSIC STOPS)
Sir.
I'm afraid the museum is closed.
I've come a very long way.
I have a particular interest
in knowing what happened here.
What happened to these men?
It will be open again
tomorrow morning.
Perhaps you could return then?
I'm afraid this won't
keep till tomorrow.
I'm surprised you
don't recognise me.
Sit down, Mr. Nagase.
Mister...
Lomax.
We won't be needing
an interpreter this time.
Of course, that wasn't your real
function last time, was it?
You will be killed shortly.
But it will be to your advantage
to answer my questions in the meantime.
How can it be to my advantage?
Your friends have already
admitted to building a radio...
in order to conspire
with our enemy.
They also said that you're
the ringleader of the plot.
He can do a lot worse...
than to kill you.
(OFFICER IN JAPANESE)
We want to know about the map.
Why did you draw a map?
Well it's a map of the railway.
He knows that.
Who's it for?
For me. It's the railway.
We know it is the railway.
Why did you draw a map
of the railway?
I'm a railway enthusiast.
Enthusiast?
I like trains.
I really like trains.
You used this
to communicate with.
Thai Resistance
and their Chinese paymasters.
No, I didn't.
How could I do that?
You received information and then
passed it on to them with this.
How could I do that?
I am asking the questions.
You must answer them.
But it's a receiver.
It receives signals.
It doesn't transmit them.
How can you transmit
with a receiver?
You built this transmitter to tell
the Chinese about our railway!
So...
Which bit do you talk into?
Well if it's a transmitter you
need to talk into it. Where?
You do not ask questions.
I ask questions.
You answer the questions.
I'm just trying to help you.
(TALKS IN JAPANESE)
(REPLIES IN JAPANESE)
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
(FOREBODING MUSIC)
(SOLDIER ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
Thank you.
(OFFICER SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
Just tell them.
Or they will make you tell them.
First personal singular, not
third person plural. You...
tortured me, you see, not they.
You.
They were afraid you were...
No, you is second person.
You need the first person.
I tortured you,
Lieutenant Lomax.
Try it. I...
I am at a loss.
I want to ask... No, no,
you don't ask. I ask.
I ask the questions. You answer.
Why did you build the radio?
Who helped you
to build the radio?
No one.
No one helped us.
We built it ourselves. Liar.
You tell lies.
Why did you build the radio?!
To...
To listen to.
To hear voices.
To know what was happening
at home.
(SMASH, GROAN)
(SPEAKS JAPANESE IN LOW THREATENING VOICE)
At the beginning of time
the clock struck one.
Then dropped the dew
and the clock struck two.
(THUD, GROAN)
Who asked you to draw the map?
From the dew grew a tree
and the clock struck three.
Where did you get
the components for the radio?
(THUD, SCREAM)
Then the tree made a door
and the clock struck four.
No!
Man came alive
and the clock struck five.
(THUD)
Count not.
Waste not
the hours on the clock.
Behold I stand
at the door and knock.
(MUSIC CRESCENDO, SOLDIER SHOUTS)
(OFFICER ORDERS)
(MUSIC STOPS)
I did not expect
you to be alive.
No, of course you didn't.
You thought you'd got away with it.
Why are you alive?
Why are we alive?
No, you.
Why are you alive?
You were a war criminal.
Why didn't they hang you?
Not a war criminal.
Just an interpreter.
You were Kempeitai,
you knew everything!
Why did they let you live?
(BUZZING OF FLIES, FOREBODING MUSIC)
SOLDIER: Easy does it.
(PLANE ENGINES ROAR)
THOMPSON: Now listen.
We intend to treat you fairly.
We are civilised human beings,
but we do need to see
that justice is done.
You're going to be transferred
to Bangkok while we look
into some of the charges
that have been made against you.
(SPEAKS IN JAPANESE)
Translator?
Yes, sir.
Kempeitai?
No, sir.
Translator.
Did you work for the Kempeitai?
Torture? Beatings?
Only translation.
Over there.
NAGASE: I worked for the War
Graves Commission.
They needed interpreters.
We travelled the railway.
We find dead bodies.
(DOLEFUL MUSIC)
(DIGGING SOUNDS)
We identified them.
We brought them here
to be buried properly.
So you went up the line.
You buried the men you helped to kill.
That's when I saw...
so many bodies.
(VOICE TREMBLES)
So very many.
I had not imagined
so many had died.
Murdered.
The word you're looking
for is murdered.
So many had been murdered.
Go on.
Murdered.
Yes.
That's what I saw.
So many murdered.
So I will speak.
I make pilgrimages.
I work for...
reconciliation.
I will not let them forget...
the tragedy of war.
The what?
The tragedy of war.
No, this wasn't a tragedy.
This was a crime.
You're not tragic.
You're a criminal.
You were an intelligent,
educated man
and you did nothing.
You're a criminal and a liar.
Mr. Lomax...
Through my work here
I have found
some peace in my life.
If I can help you...
(BREATHES HEAVILY)
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
Mr. Lomax.
I'm trying to answer these questions
because you are asking them.
But I don't think these questions
are the right questions!
(GASPS)
(RHYTMICALLY ACCENTED MUSIC)
(WATER TRICKLES)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(SLOW MUSIC)
(WATER TRICKLES)
(MUFFLED WATERFLOW)
(SPLASH, GARGLE)
(CHOKES)
(COUGHS)
(ORDERES IN JAPANESE)
No!
(CHOKES)
(SCREAMS)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(SCREAMS)
(ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(COUGHS)
(OFFICER ORDERS IN JAPANESE)
(CHOKES)
(SCREAMS)
Mother! Mother! Mother!
Why won't you help me? Mother!
Mother!
Alright!
Alright, I'll tell you!
I'll tell you.
I'll tell you, I'll tell you.
I'll tell you.
ORDERS IN JAPANESE: I'll tell
you, I'll tell you.
I'll tell you everything
we heard on the radio.
I'll tell you the truth.
While you're here
building your railway
American submarines
are destroying your shipping.
There's shortages of food
and fuel all over Japan.
American planes
are bombing your cities,
destroying your Bridges,
your roads,
your hospitals.
And there's no one to stop them.
Your homes are burning
and your families are starving.
That is what I heard
on the radio.
You're a liar.
You tell lies.
You have no honour.
Your army is defeated.
You surrender like dogs.
Look at you.
You should be ashamed
to be alive.
If my army was defeated,
I would take my life
to save my honour.
You're getting your chance.
Any day now.
(SPEAKS IN JAPANESE)
(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)
(SLAP, NAGASE YELLS)
(SLOW MUSIC)
(MUSIC STOPS)
My mother was already
dead, as it happens.
All through the war,
I wrote letters home
to a dead woman.
What do you tell people?
About what you did to us?
We do not talk about it.
No one will talk about it.
Nor do we.
And you know why?
Because no one would believe it.
No one would believe
what you did to us.
You treated us like animals
because we surrendered.
You said you'd rather die...
than live without honour.
But you didn't die.
It was a lie they told us.
It was all lies.
(SNIFFS)
That we would win.
We would have honour.
They lied to us.
Only you told me the truth.
No matter what we did to you,
you held on.
You showed me that
nothing's worth more
than this life.
Finlay...
He was my friend.
He was a prisoner here.
He put your life in my hands.
He wanted an end to this.
Maybe...
that is why I am alive.
For this day.
Maybe we both lived...
for this day.
(SLOW MUSIC)
You can make an end.
You are a soldier, Lomax.
You never surrendered.
I'm still at war.
(MUSIC BUILDS UP)
(MUSIC PAUSES)
(MUSIC SLOWLY RESUMES)
I thought I'd lost you.
When Finlay died, I was scared.
I was scared that the same
might happen to you.
It was different for Finlay.
He didn't have you.
NAGASE: Dear Mr. Lomax,
I was a member of the Imperial
Japanese Army.
We treated you and your countrymen
very, very badly.
It is a long time
since the war ended,
but for me
it is a time of suffering.
The dagger of our meeting
thrust deep into my heart.
I never forgot you.
I remember your face,
your arms,
your eyes.
I have to go back.
I want you to come with me.
(MUSIC STOPS, BIRDS CHIRP)
I wouldn't have
lasted a day here.
If you'd been here,
you'd have caused quite a stir.
You'd have outlasted
the lot of us.
(DISTANT THUNDER)
(SLOWLY RAIN BEGINS TO FALL)
I am sorry.
So sorry.
I don't want to live
that day anymore.
Neither do I.
(SLOW MUSIC)
Dear Mr. Nagase,
the war has
been over for many years.
I have suffered much.
But I know you
have suffered too.
(SOBS)
And you have
been most courageous
and brave
in working for reconciliation.
Sorry.
While I cannot forget
what happened in Kanchanaburi,
I assure you
of my total forgiveness.
Sometime the hating has to stop.
(MUSIC STOPS)