During the Second World War, the Scottish lieutenant Eric Lomax is imprisoned by the Japanese in Singapore. He survives torture and the nightmare of a Thai concentration camp, where he was forced to help build a bridge over the river Kwai. Decades later, still fascinated by trains and surrounded by other veterans, he meets the lovely Patricia Wallace. This sudden happiness compels hims to face his old demons, and to confront the Japanese officer who tortured him…

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If an idiotic movie is about the Second World War, that makes it even worse. Adapted from the novel by Eric Lomax, The Railway Man is split into two movements, separated by space and time but reunited by their naivité and simplicity: on the one hand, the Hollywoodesque horror of the concentration camp, and on the other, the psychological consequences of the man’s experience illustrated through a cheap romance. It’s hard not to watch this bland movie passively and disinterestedly, as it raises the issue of pardon with an artlessness that confines the movie to stupidity. Jonathan Teplitzkyne’s fine staging only underlines its weaknesses, while the prestigious cast, led by a solid Colin Firth and a useless Nicole Kidman, tries to bring a bit of depth to this tragic melodrama.