The stars of “The Railway Man” made their way to Canada Friday (September 6) for the Toronto International Film Festival. Both Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth walked the red carpet for their film’s debut.

The movie is about a British prisoner of war, Eric Lomax (Firth), who endured horrendous torture and terror at the hands of his Japanese captors. Forced to stand for hours in the burning sun, he was half-drowned by a water-hose placed in his nose and mouth, his arms were broken, and his ribs were cracked in savage beatings.

Lomax’s widow Patti is attending the festival as well; Lomax died last year at age 93. The film’s producer and co-writer, Andy Paterson, doubts that Lomax would have joined them if were still alive. He believes that Lomax would have found the film too terrifying.

“He really wanted to hear all about it,” Patterson says, “but not to see the images because he said they ‘might bring the nightmares back.’ Most of all, he wanted to know if I was satisfied with the result.”