Colin Firth stars in The Railway Man coming to UK screens on January 10 However, after being captured by the Japanese army in 1942, Lomax's love turns bitter as he's forced to work in torturous conditions on the infamous Death Railway. Based on the autobiographical novel of the same name, The Railway Man stars Colin Firth as Lomax in his post-army days. On a train journey through idyllic Northern England he meets divorcée Patti Wallace (Nicole Kidman), a chance encounter that turns into love affair. Wallace soon realises that Lomax is suffering from severe post traumatic stress from his time as a prisoner of war. With the help of Finlay (Stellan Skarsgard), Wallace delves into Lomax's tortured past, which he is trying desperately to forget. Looking at the history of this tale, it's pretty clear why director Jonathan Teplitzky chose to bring it to the world's attention. The Burma Railway was infamous due to the number of lives lost during its construction - 90,000 Asian labourers and more than 12,000 Allied prisoners died as a direct result of the project. Allied POWs were forced to work in wretched conditions and it is thought that one life was lost for every sleeper laid on the tracks. One man in particular made life a living hell for Lomax - his torturer, Takashi Nagase, an Imperial Japanese Army officer and interpreter. Above is Lomax (left) and Nagase (right) captured proudly in their respective army uniforms. It took Lomax years to eventually tell his story and his autobiographical novel was finally published in 1995. The following year, The Railway Man won the NCR Book Award and the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. While the film deviates from Lomax's chronology it remains faithful to one crucial point - the eventual reconciliation between Lomax and Nagase. Here, some 50 years later, Lomax stands beside the man who tortured him at the very railway bridge he was forced to work on over the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Lomax died on October 8, 2012, age 93. Academy award nominee Jeremy Irvine (Warhorse), who plays the young Eric Lomax, revealed to This Morning just how difficult he found understanding the traumatic history. Given the incredibly powerful storyline, it's difficult to believe the film has fared so poorly among the critics. Empire awards a feeble two stars asking: "How, then, is Aussie director Jonathan Teplitzky's film so dramatically inert? So misleading? So fiddly? It appears what could have been Oscar-winning performances from Firth and Kidman are undercut because of an "absurdly haphazard structure and listless pace." On the surface it seems Teplitzky's structure lacks throttle, but is it the end of the line for critics everywhere? Total Film gives three stars with the comment "Firth and Kidman are not at their best." Fortunately The Railway Man isn't off track for everyone as The Guardian claims Firth's performance is delivered with "immense emotional complexity." As ever, we need your opinions. Does The Railway Man chug along at a woeful pace or is Firth's performance full steam ahead? Let us know via Twitter.