MovieChat Forums > The Railway Man (2014) Discussion > Lomax's first wife and family

Lomax's first wife and family

posted 11 years ago by supergran
2 replies | jump to latest

It wasn't until after I saw this film that I discovered that Lomax had a wife and children when he met Patti in 1980. He left his first wife to marry Patti in 1983.

I can't really blame the filmmakers for leaving that rather small(!) detail out because Lomax didn't mention his family in his book as far as I'm aware. Extraordinary. They appear to have had quite a hard time of it living with a man suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/dec/28/railway-mans-forgo tten-family

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

[–] joulesbaby 11 years ago

Eric Lomax did mention his first marriage in his book. He was engaged before he left for Singapore, and married his fiancee upon his return. As far as I can recall, his marriage had broken up before he met Patti, but I can understand why this wasn't mentioned in the film, most notably due to time constraints, I would imagine.

[–] evelhussey 11 years ago

It wouldn't have added to the story except to show that a failed marriage was a symptom of his captivity, but it would have bordered on cliche. It's more compelling to focus on the love of his life who vows to help him through his issues.