tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post292443876424605005..comments2024-03-17T00:00:13.417+00:00Comments on The Wertzone: The Railway Man by Eric LomaxAdam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-35978282699301567022011-09-10T05:06:45.414+00:002011-09-10T05:06:45.414+00:00I just heard word that Colin Firth will be starrin...I just heard word that Colin Firth will be starring in a film adaption of the book. I think it'd make for a powerful film (especially with Colin Firth leading the way - he's good with all that traumatized, emotional stuff). The book is rather graphic though, so I'm guessing the movie won't be for the weak in stomach. I wonder how they will be doing the age spread since it starts with him as a much younger man and ends with him as a much older man, neither age which Firth is at.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-31308320347433055032010-11-23T19:25:26.786+00:002010-11-23T19:25:26.786+00:00I have just finished reading this most harrowing b...I have just finished reading this most harrowing book. I think it is brilliantly, and honestly told. The last few pages where Mr lomax meets his tormenter brought me to tears. The treatment handed out to him and all the other P.O.W.s is probably far beyond our comprehension but the pictures he painted stopped me from putting this book down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-69018911896256799812010-08-04T07:01:34.892+00:002010-08-04T07:01:34.892+00:00Ian - and also that the Japanese managed to get in...Ian - and also that the Japanese managed to get into Sydney Harbour in mini one-man subs!Jebushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00985667608602099242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-56322075455144417932010-08-03T21:28:42.221+00:002010-08-03T21:28:42.221+00:00When the film Australia was released a couple of y...When the film Australia was released a couple of years ago, many younger Aussies had no idea Darwin was bombed by the Japanese during the war. I learned about it at school in the 60s, my brother who is 9 years younger, didn't. So much for getting an education. As they say, those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. <br />In all my travels in Asia during the past 35 years, only the peace memorial at Hiroshima and the genocide museum at Tuol Sleng school in Cambodia moved me to tears.<br />Thanks for reviewing this books, even if it isn't fantasy. I shall seek it out. - IanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-55713062366486768402010-08-03T16:14:26.113+00:002010-08-03T16:14:26.113+00:00I watched a documentary on the Beeb some few years...I watched a documentary on the Beeb some few years ago about Lomax meeting up with the Japanese guard you mention in the review who had been involved in the torture that he went through. It's probably on Youtube somewhere if you haven't seen it.<br /><br />Very powerful, emotive stuff. <br /><br />If you are looking for an excellent book on the campaigns in the Far East you should check out Feargal Keane's Road of Bones. It's about the Battle of Kohima, where 1500 British and Empire troops took on a Japanese army 15000 strong. Epic in every sense.Iainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02071546979497176969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-54008208320664250602010-08-03T00:12:52.260+00:002010-08-03T00:12:52.260+00:00Oh I also wanted to mention the Sandakan death mar...Oh I also wanted to mention the Sandakan death marches in Borneo. My parents recently visited the various shrines commemorating the event and they had no idea about it until they happened across them on a different tourist guided walk - they ended up telling the tour operators they should change or add to their tours to include the shrines.<br /><br />I'd never heard of it either but now have and am amazed it is not more well known. Only 6 Australians survived out of 2400 Allied POWs and thousands of other civilians.<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandakan_Death_MarchesJebushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00985667608602099242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-14947073929073342062010-08-03T00:08:47.895+00:002010-08-03T00:08:47.895+00:00I think if you talk to many young Japanese people ...I think if you talk to many young Japanese people these days, many of them would have no idea about the true horrors that their countrymen subjected POWs to.<br /><br />Wert, have you seen the Aussie TV series Changi? It's a brilliant series about POWs in Singapore notorious Changi prison. I've been to the priosn (which they've now moved) and admit to being brought to tears by some of the stories on the placards in the tiny little museum there.<br /><br />I also just watched the movie a few days ago "The City of Life and Death" about the rape of Nanking, I actually think the filmmaker massively pulled his punches but it is a staggeringly powerful film about the atrocities that happened.<br /><br />Anyway, in Australia many of the older generation still despise the Japanese - my own Nan was a nurse in the Pacific and in Japan after the war (I have seen a photo of her a couple other nurses sitting on the only grassy patch in a field of devastation in Nagasaki) and she despises the Japanese and nothing can be done to change her mind. Younger generations no longer keep that hatred going, which is natural and good, but I think people in all countries involved really should be educated about their Country's past transgressions so that mistakes are not made again.<br /><br />Anyway, good review, I'll keep an eye out for it.Jebushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00985667608602099242noreply@blogger.com