Colin Firth and "War Horse" star Jeremy Irvine attended the premiere of their latest film "The Railway Man" in London on Wednesday. Featuring scenes set in World War II, "Railway Man" tells a story of torture and forgiveness between a British officer and a Japanese interpretor.

Colin Firth in 'The Railway Man'

Firth and Irvine play the same man at different ages, as the film charts the experience of WWII prisoner of war Eric Lomax, based on the late veteran's memoirs.

The British Army officer is tortured during his time at a Japanese labour camp, which oversees the building of the so called "Death Railway" with forced labor.

The Oscar-winning lead of "The Kings Speech" plays Lomax some years after the war, as he falls in love and marries, but is tormented by memories.

"All the research I needed and all the understanding, all the things I needed to get my imagination going, came straight from Eric. And he was extremely trusting and very, very lucid, and very courageous in sharing what he shared. So the pressure I would say was balanced off, with a very enriching source of information," Firth said.

"War Horse" star Irvine was equally determined to do justice to the man who experienced it all for real.

"We always seem quite familiar with the war crimes that were committed in Europe, you know, the holocaust. But here's something on a huge scale that actually seems to be kind of missing from our public consciousness... that's why I think it's so important that we get this story out there," Irvine said.

The story follows Lomax as he dreams of revenge against Negase, the interpretor who interrogated him. Yet it is ultimately a story of reconciliation, as the two men meet face to face after many years.

"I think that it's very important that the dark elements of the film are there to juxtapose the place that Eric is able to get to in his reconciliation with Negase. It's about a balance and hopefully we've got the balance right, but if it was in any way lacking, then the place that he gets to and what he actually does would be lessened I think," said director Jonathan Teplitzy.

"The Railway Man" is released in the UK on 1 January 2014.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)