GER / US
2012
2hrs 51mins
Dirs: Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski
Starring: Halle Berry and Tom Hanks
Tribesman Zachry Bailey recounts stories to his grandchildren on an extra-terrestrial Earth colony
This epic German-American science fiction film was adapted from the 2004 novel of the same name by David Mitchell. The film has multiple plots set across six different eras, which Mitchell described as ‘a sort of pointillist mosaic!’ Whatever all this means, it does have some railway scenes. There are two scenic run-bys of trains in the West Highlands of Scotland, one with a steam train formed of maroon-liveried Mk1 coaching stock hauled by ex-LMS Class 5MT ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No.45407, and the other with a pair of First ScotRail-liveried Class 156 DMUs. The location for these shots was on the Fort William to Mallaig line at a point just over a mile west of Glenfinnan. There is also a scene with Jim Broadbent on the platform of Bo’ness station as a Class 156 DMU is leaving in a scene reminiscent of Trainspotting (qv). The scenes with Jim Broadbent sat onboard a Class 156 were also filmed on the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway and quite inadvertently a Class 37, almost certainly 37175, is very briefly glimpsed through the window as the train arrives into Bo’ness station.
