Railway remembered
Spirit of the Railway
Siren Visual Entertainment

“THE triumph of the human spirit in the face of terrible adversity.”

That’s how one ex-PoW describes his survival during building the Thai-Burma railway in this newly-released DVD documentary, Spirit of the Railway.

Built by Australian and Allied PoWs and Asian labour after the fall of Singapore in 1942, the Thai-Burma railway is a well-known part of Australia’s World War II history. But having the story told by ex-PoWs has brought it to life in this moving documentary, which sets out to tell “the true story”.

And as many of the ex-PoWs give emotive and frank accounts of their treatment at the hands of their Japanese captors, the truth is laid bare.

Hearing what conditions were like and of the abuse – being kicked with boots or beaten with rifle butts or bamboo – were shocking. As one ex-digger remembered, “there wouldn’t be a week go past that you wouldn’t get a bashing” as he talked of being tied up with wire and locked in a box.

The tales of abuse, beatings and of working excessive hours on the short-ration of half a cup of rice a day that reduced men to half their body-weight, are at times difficult to hear. Especially when diggers recalled “it was the big men that died first”, or when another talked of eating a dog or snake or a frog and being glad for it.

Drawn from Australian, US and Japanese archives, the film provides rarely-seen footage, including both Australian and Allied PoWs and Japanese troops.

This includes graphic vision of executions or dead PoWs and Asian workers, or of perilously thin Australian soldiers. Many of these smile at the camera with youthful faces, but with emaciated bodies that show protruding joints and every rib.

But in the midst of this misery, there were some who captured glimpses of the rare beauty to be found in the experience, and interspersed throughout the documentary is a stunning collection of paintings and drawings of prison-life by artists Jack Chalker, Ray Parkin, Ronald Searle and Fred Ransome Smith, which are truly remarkable.

In its criticism of the Japanese, the documentary attempts to delve into the Japanese psyche and demonstrate their appalling attitude not only towards the PoWs, but also towards their own troops and Korean soldiers.

Some of the ex-PoWs talk of how the experience challenged their faith in God. Others talk of the spirituality some felt at the places they revisited, of their paths to finding acceptance for what happened and in being able to forgive.

But throughout the film, and despite the confronting truth behind the distressing images, there lies a proud underlying sentiment. The one the documentary first stated – the triumph of human spirit – as one ex-PoW asked viewers to focus on “not that 100,000 people died, but that 250,000 survived”.

Surviving PoWs attributed their remarkable survival to their determination to live and their reliance on each other. It was truly inspirational to hear of the spirit that saw the survivors live through the oppressive treatment and workload.

One ex-PoW said “There’s one lesson to learn from it. Even though the picture’s grim, just have faith, have faith in yourself and your mates.”

4 out of 5 stars

– SGT Damian Shovell