The Railway Man Page #2

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)

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