Is “The Railway Children Return” Movie Based on a True Story?

Is The Railway Children Return a True Story

Is “The Railway Children Return” Movie Based on a True Story? – The Railway Children Return, often referred to as Railway Children in the US, is a 2022 family drama film written and directed by Danny Brocklehurst and starring Morgan Matthews. It is a sequel to the ‘The Railway Children‘ movie from 1970. Jenny Agutter, Sheridan Smith, Tom Courtenay, and John Bradley are the movie’s stars. StudioCanal released it on July 15, 2022, in the United Kingdom. Many may wonder if the movie is based on real events, given the free-spirited kids and their happy-go-lucky exploits. Here is all the information you require if you’re curious about the source of “The Railway Children Return’s” inspiration.

Also Read: Do Revenge Ending Explained: Why Does Eleanor Decide To Help Drea?

Is The Railway Children Return Based on a True Story

‘The Railway Children Return’ Movie Plot

During the Second World War, a new wave of bombings hit Britain in 1944. Lily, 14, Pattie, 11, and Ted Watts, 7, are evacuated from Manchester to the village of Oakworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where Bobbie Waterbury, her schoolmistress daughter Annie, and her 13-year-old grandson Thomas are waiting to welcome them. Locals choose homes for all the children, but the Watts trio are left behind since authorities asked them not to divide up their siblings.

Bobbie offers to take them into their home if no one else will. Thomas and the kids get along well right away. There is a disruption on their first evening because there is a US Army post nearby. A mob of neighborhood kids attacks the kids as they explore their new surroundings, and Thomas invites them to his hideout in an old brake van at the train station after they are attacked.

When Annie learns that her husband is fighting overseas, it makes her think of Bobby’s father and brother, who died in the First World War. While playing hide and seek at the station, the kids allow her some room. While there, they discover Abe McCarthy, an African-American soldier, in their covert location with a broken leg. He says he’s on a covert mission and has to remain undiscovered.

Lily falls that evening as she delivers a first aid kit and other supplies to Abe when a lone enemy aircraft dumps a bomb on the town cemetery. She becomes suspicious of him after he rescues her and says he joined the Army to exact revenge on his brother, who was killed in battle. The following day, white American Military Police search for Abe at the school, and Lily discovers that he has deserted.

Abe admits that he is actually only 14 years old and that he is attempting to return home after witnessing how the US Army treats his fellow black soldiers, who are frequently beaten by the Military Police, despite the town’s residents refusing the US authorities’ request to impose a colour bar in the neighbourhood pub. She consents to aiding his emancipation.

When Lily tells them she intends to hide Abe at the house, Thomas initially demands they confess the truth to the adults. When Lily immediately shoots him down, she exposes his ignorance of the world’s facts by letting him know that their father has also died in battle. Thomas permits Abe to stay in the sizable storage space next to his bedroom. Phyllis’s brother, Walter, Bobby’s widower spouse, visits the family that evening. The following day, Thomas joins Lily in escorting Abe to the station so they can board the train to Liverpool while remaining undetected.

As a result, the neighbourhood police apprehended him, who then alerted the US Military Police, who in turn stopped and searched the train farther up the line. After being led to the base in handcuffs and loaded onto a US Army supply train that is also transporting top officials, Abe and Lily are released.

Annie tells Thomas that although his father’s plane was shot down, he is still alive and is being held in a prisoner-of-war camp. After telling Walter everything, his uncle tells him about the American supply train that he learned about by calling the War Office, where he works. As Bobby and her siblings had done thirty years previously, Thomas rallies Pattie, Ted, and the other local and evacuee kids to make banners urging the train to halt.

The kids can stop the train and criticise the Americans for their behaviour. The most senior general, who is also African-American, learns the truth from Abe and admits that he, too, enrolled when he was too young. He then orders Abe’s release. After spending a few days with the family, Abe departs for home, making a promise to write to Lily before he leaves. Three months later, the siblings go back to live with their mother, while Thomas’s father returns after VE Day.

The Railway Children Return Plot

Is ‘The Railway Children Return’ a True Story?

NO, “The Railway Children Return” movie is not based on a true story. For the cinema, Daniel Brocklehurst and Jemma Rodgers adapted the book “The Railway Children,” written by Edith Nesbit in 1905.

The film is a children’s adventure that uses humour to tackle serious and difficult subjects. The Battle of Bamber Bridge-like struggle engages the kids and allows them to learn about the sociopolitical problems that exist in their environment. The main characters’ emotional issues, however, serve as the foundation for the story. Because of these recognisable people, issues, and storytelling, the movie has a whiff of truth.

The Railway Children Return is ultimately based on the E. Nesbit novel of the same name. By establishing the story amid a real-life issue and concentrating on a set of intuitive, likeable, and relatable characters who transmit the story’s emotions, it successfully captures the essence of the author’s work. As a result, the movie offers a gripping fictional tale with authentic emotions that examines critical societal issues of the day.

Must See: Is Netflix’s ‘Jogi’ Based on a True Story? Jogi Filming Location