The Railway Man Page #4

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.

(MUSIC STOPS)

(PATTI CHUCKLES)

I'm going to send him a message.

Something he won't

be able to ignore.

(STATION MASTER WHISTLES)

(SLOW MUSIC)

(TRAIN SIREN SOUNDS OFF,

DIESEL ENGINE INTENSIFIES)

(PHONE RINGS)

Yes?

(ROPE STRAINS, FINLAY GURGLES)

Oh, my God.

Alright, thank you.

(PATTI HANGS UP)

It's Finlay...

Where?

Er... Warminster.

He must have caught the Birmingham

train, changed at...

(WHISPERS:
)

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.

(DOOR SLAMS)

PRIEST:
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...

(PRIEST'S VOICE FADES)

One.

Two.

Three.

Four. Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Jack.

Queen.

King.

(MUSIC BUILDS UP)

(MUSIC SLOWS DOWN)

(MUSIC STOPS)

(KNIFE SLITHES)

NAGASE TO TOURISTS: 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.

TOURIST:
I thought all the Buddhas

were fat and jolly.

NAGASE:
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.

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

(MUSICAL STRESS)

We are going to the War

Museum over in Kempeitai.

Thanks for coming.

See you.

Thank you, please.

(DOOR SQUEAKS)

(MUSIC STOPS)

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.

(OFFICER IN JAPANESE)

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.

(TALKS IN JAPANESE)

(REPLIES IN JAPANESE)

(SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)

(FOREBODING MUSIC)

(SOLDIER ORDERS IN JAPANESE)

Thank you.

(OFFICER SHOUTS IN JAPANESE)

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.

(SMASH, GROAN)

(SPEAKS JAPANESE IN LOW THREATENING VOICE)

At the beginning of time

the clock struck one.

Then dropped the dew

and the clock struck two.

(THUD, GROAN)

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?

(THUD, SCREAM)

Then the tree made a door

and the clock struck four.

No!

Man came alive

and the clock struck five.

(THUD)

Count not.

Waste not

the hours on the clock.

Behold I stand

at the door and knock.

(MUSIC CRESCENDO, SOLDIER SHOUTS)

(OFFICER ORDERS)

(MUSIC STOPS)

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?

(BUZZING OF FLIES, FOREBODING MUSIC)

SOLDIER:
Easy does it.

(PLANE ENGINES ROAR)

THOMPSON:
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.

(SPEAKS IN JAPANESE)

Translator?

Yes, sir.

Kempeitai?

No, sir.

Translator.

Did you work for the Kempeitai?

Torture? Beatings?

Only translation.

Over there.

NAGASE:
I worked for the War

Graves Commission.

They needed interpreters.

We travelled the railway.

We find dead bodies.

(DOLEFUL MUSIC)

(DIGGING SOUNDS)

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.

(VOICE TREMBLES)

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.

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