The movie “The Railway Man” will be shown on Sunday, Sept. 21 at 2 p.m. at the Michigan City Public Library, 100 E. Fourth St. in Michigan City, offered through a collaboration between Purdue University North Central's Odyssey Arts and Cultural Events Series and Michigan City Public Library. The showing is free and open to the public. The film is rated R for images of violence and torture.
“The Railway Man” is based on the memoir of Eric Lomax, a World War II British officer who was captured and tortured by the Japanese in 1942 and later worked to overcome the memories that tormented him.
Lomax died in 2012 at age 93. Colin Firth stars as Lomax, with Jeremy Irvine playing him as a younger man. The film opens with Lomax on his deathbed and soon moves to 1980 when Lomax meets and marries Patti, played by Nicole Kidman. While a minor character in the film, Patti discovers Lomax suffers horrible nightmares and untreated post-traumatic stress disorder. Patti learns from her husband’s friend the depth of the horror that he experienced as a prisoner of war. Through the use of flashbacks, the audience sees what Lomax endured in captivity.
Four decades after the war, Lomax is able to confront the man he deemed responsible for his torture and is incensed that he is unpunished and working in a Japanese war museum. While Lomax initially intended to kill the man, the film ends in what “Variety” magazine termed “a case of truth and reconciliation before such attitudes became the accepted way of coping with unspeakable human-rights violations.”
The Odyssey Arts and Cultural Events Series features various events throughout the year. A complete schedule of events can be found at www.pnc.edu. For more information about this film, or any event in the Odyssey series, contact Judy Jacobi, PNC assistant vice chancellor of Marketing and Campus Relations, at 785-5200. ext. 5593. Persons with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Jacobi.