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R, 108 min. Westbrook.

There are, of course, different ways to make war movies. Some are sweeping, some more intimate. Some are visceral and raw, and some take a more understated approach. There are moments that "The Railway Man," starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman and directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, feels like a period TV drama - slow, subtle, a bit distant - but that doesn't detract from the ultimate power of its story, which is both remarkable and true. It also doesn't detract from Firth's nuanced and ultimately quite moving performance, as well as an admirable turn by the talented Jeremy Irvine as a younger version of the same man. (Kidman, on the other hand, feels somewhat wasted in an underwritten part.) "The Railway Man" is based on the autobiography of Eric Lomax, a British Army officer who was brutally tortured at a Japanese POW camp during World War II. Lomax somehow survived - unlike many fellow soldiers - but came home broken and haunted, particularly by his ordeal at the hands of one sadistic Japanese interpreter. In his book, Lomax, who died in 2012 at age 93 (during editing of this film), chronicles what happened when he was able to confront the interpreter in person, many years after the war's end. Without giving away too much, the final resolution is both stunning and cathartic, and the movie conveys its full emotional resonance - even if it takes a long while to reach that level of intensity.

- Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press