Original subtitles

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.

Is that a new Bradshaw's, Eric?

Or one of your world famous collection of out of date railway timetables?

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.

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 its 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.

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.

Goodness!

Maybe we should get off, take a look around.

Well if think Warrington's interesting, you wait till we get to Preston.

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.

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.

Carstairs, now approaching.

Carstairs. Carstairs.

So it is.

It was very nice to meet you.

You were an unexpected bonus.

Well.

Thank you again.

And so you see,

I am forced to the unlikely conclusion,

that I've fallen in love.

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...

Edinburgh Waverley, this is Edinburgh Waverley.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Get dressed, Lomax.

No, no, no.

No!

The war's over! Not for you, Lomax.

No! No! This way, please.

Please... no!

Eric! Oh, God!

Help us! For the love of God, someone help us!

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.

Christ almighty.

Lomax, my friend,

I think we have just witnessed the fall of the British Empire.

You will number off!

Beginning with number one.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Jack.

Queen.

King.

Ace.

Good?

So what do you think?

I don't want to take over completely.

You're tired. Do you want a cup of tea?

Eric?

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.

Eric?

I was just wondering if you'd paid these bills.

Eric?

Eric.

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?

We are authorised to enter

the property and make an inventory of goods.

You can't come in here.

Eric. No!

Drop it! No, please!

Drop the knife!

Drop it, sir!

Eric!

Eric, stop!

Please, why won't you talk to me?

Eric!

Eric, we can't live like this.

No, leave me. I'm fine!

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.

And then he won't...

he won't talk about the railway. There's...

I don't know.

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.

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.

Here! Here!

Here!

Water!

Here!

Here! Water, please!

Fall in, men. Don't lag behind.

Attention!

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.

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 its 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?

Lomax.

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?

Major York?

It's Lomax, sir.

Signals.

What's the problem?

She's knackered, mate.

Just like the rest of us.

Jackson...

It's, um, very beautiful.

What's it called?

The river?

Ah... Maenam Kwae Yai.

Maenam Kwae Yai?

Maenam Kwae Yai.

Thank you.

Maenam Kwae Yai.

Maenam Kwai Yai.

No good. Yeah.

Ready?

What if Hitler's in London?

What do we tell the men?

I can't say it sounds very likely.

It's running!

It's working.

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...

What we have done is rekindle a fire

in British hearts

here and all over the world

which will glow...

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.

The men, sir, right?

You've got to let them know it's going our way.

We've got Hitler on the run.

Pass it round.

The Russians have taken Stalingrad.

Be careful.

... 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.

Thorlby.

Finlay.

Withins.

Lomax.

Lomax!!!

Soldier.

I think it was the bravest thing I've ever seen.

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...

mercy will follow me for the rest of my life.

It was...

madness.

But you can talk about it.

Why can't he talk to me about it?

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.

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.

Raise your arms.

You will come with me.

And then we didn't see him for two weeks.

He never told me what they did to him.

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.

Patti.

Eric.

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?

Whatever he does.

I want to.

I can't imagine anything worse than where he is now.

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.

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.

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.

I'm going to send him a message.

Something he won't be able to ignore.

Yes?

Oh, my God.

Alright, thank you.

It's Finlay...

Where?

Er... Warminster.

He must have caught the Birmingham train, changed at...

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.

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...

One.

Two.

Three.

Four. Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Jack.

Queen.

King.

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.

I thought all the Buddhas were fat and jolly.

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.

We are going to the War Museum over in Kempeitai.

Thanks for coming.

See you.

Thank you, please.

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.

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.

Thank you.

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.

At the beginning of time

the clock struck one.

Then dropped the dew

and the clock struck two.

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?

Then the tree made a door

and the clock struck four.

No!

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.

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?

Easy does it.

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.

Translator?

Yes, sir.

Kempeitai?

No, sir.

Translator.

Did you work for the Kempeitai?

Torture? Beatings?

Only translation.

Over there.

I worked for the War Graves Commission.

They needed interpreters.

We travelled the railway.

We find dead bodies.

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.

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...

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!

No!

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.

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.

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.

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.

You can make an end.

You are a soldier, Lomax.

You never surrendered.

I'm still at war.

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.

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.

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.

I am sorry.

So sorry.

I don't want to live that day anymore.

Neither do I.

Dear Mr Nagase,

the war has been over for many years.

I have suffered much.

But I know you have suffered too.

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.