This is a good film, verging on very good, that is only held back from greatness by the transparency of its efforts to make the events of the true story it depicts more cinematic. There is nothing wrong with altering a real life story to make a more compelling film (in fact, it is what a screenwriter should do), but a few moments here just felt off.
Colin Firth plays Eric Lomax, a former WWII soldier who, decades after the war, is still suffering from memories of the horrors and indignities he suffered as a prisoner of the Japanese. Early in the film, he meets, briefly courts, and marries Nicole Kidman's character, Patti, in the first of the film's deviations from reality. The material the actors are given is good and they do a good job selling it, bringing a sense of realism to the budding relationship. The awkwardness of Firth's borderline antisocial character is especially well done. It just seems to all happen a little too quickly and, sure enough, when I got home and did some research I found that what was a three year courtship in reality was condensed into an indeterminate, yet clearly very short, length of time for the film. I understand that the filmmakers were in a hurry to get to bulk of the film, and this wasn't a major problem, but it did feel a little jarring. A short montage or anything else that would have shown the passage of time would have been a welcome addition. I've also discovered that the film ignores the fact that Lomax was already married when me Patti and that he left his wife for her, but that was probably best left out.
As the film goes on, Kidman discovers the strange and sometimes violent tendencies that Firth carries, resulting from his experience as a prisoner. She is able to get most of the story from Finlay Stellan Skarsgard), a friend of and formerly a fellow prisoner with Firth's character. At this point the film jumps back and forth between the modern day story and flashbacks from the war. I was impressed at how well the flashbacks were integrated into the story. Oftentimes films that feature large sections of both present day and flashback storylines feel disconnected. Each storyline loses whatever forward momentum it had every time the other story comes to the fore. That didn't happen here. Sending Kidman's character on a mission of discovery helped. It connected the stories by allowing the flashbacks to not just be sources of exposition for the audience, but to be providing her with the answers she was seeking. Efforts are also made to tie specific moments from the flashbacks to Firth's actions and mindset in the present. It's always tricky telling two different stories at once--the goal is to make them feel like one, and this film accomplishes that, weaving the threads together expertly.
The climax of the film is when Firth learns that Takashi Nagase (Hiroyuki Sanada), his primary tormenter from the prison camp, is still alive. After wrestling with the decision, Firth goes to Japan to confront and, presumably, to kill him. This is the second time the film hurts itself by deviating from the actual events. Without going into detail, suffice it to say that their confrontation is quite a bit more dramatic than it was in real life. A little too dramatic, to the point that it pulled me out of the film a bit. I was never in doubt about what Firth's character would ultimately do, so the extra manufactured drama felt like just that--manufactured. To be fair, I went into the film aware that it deviated from reality during the confrontation (my Dad felt the need to spoil it for me), but I think it would have felt over the top anyway.
Once the film gets past the added moments of drama, its actual ending is very good. The themes of anger and forgiveness echo powerfully, and the emotional outpouring by Sanada is truly moving. I would have preferred it if the film could have been, if not more faithful to reality, at least more subtle in it alterations. In a story like this, a sense of realism is very important. The film usually has this, but by losing it a couple times, however briefly, it forces itself to settle for the distinction of "good", not "classic".
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