Unbroken

I am a fan of World War II films adapted from true stories and so I wasn't going to miss this film. It was obvious that the story of Louis "Louie" Zamperini took center stage and because of how incredible the true events are in the Louie's life, their sincere adaptation onto the big screen was sufficient to entertain. The acting was also very good however. The biggest problems I can see with "Unbroken" were that the climax fell somewhat short of expectations emotionally and the visual design felt like pre-"Saving Private Ryan". The themes of the movie and of the epilogue however should be taken seriously in our time.

This man endured many trials that brought success in his running career and helped to save his life during the war. Another message that can be gleamed from "Unbroken" is that of forgiveness. Those in Torrance, California forgave Louie when he was a child for being disobedient so why should he not forgive the Japanese? Once he started on the path to forgiveness after the war, the nightmares he was having stopped. Some of those he forgave became Christian themselves. As a fun fact, Zamperini still holds the record as the youngest American Olympic qualifier for the 5,000 meters and he wasn't even expecting to make the Olympics that year. Because of the record time Louie set in the final lap, he got to meet Hitler. I am betting one reason as to why this movie is not praised by all who see it is because of its visual appearance. The lighting and colors used were somewhat appealing and therefore unrealistic for a World War II picture. Two other war movies with the same problem were George Clooney's "The Monuments Men" and "Red Tails". "Unbroken" had a better story though than those movies and I am betting that the Coen brothers helped to achieve this on paper. The story structure works just fine but after seeing what Louis has gone though, the ending could have been a tad more climatic. For the second half of the movie, Louis spends much of it in silence. In real life, Zamperini while imprisoned continued to talk to his fellow prisoners about his mother's Italian recipes to lift their spirits and this probably would have worked on screen. The scene where Louie lifts the giant log actually happened. Watanabe sees this as a way to finally be rid of his "competitor". Even though dramatic license was taken with conclusion of this scene is it nonetheless powerful. The Bird did have mood swings in real life. I like how Louie's homecoming photo was recreated. As stated in the epilogue, Watanabe did not meet with Louie around the time of his Olympic torch relay run for the Nagano Games in 1998. Some sources seem to indicate that the Bird had no remorse for what he did. I personally think he couldn't bring himself to reunite with someone much better than himself. I liked the fact that Louie's torch relay leg was close to the sight of one of his former camps. He also ran the torch in '84.

Jack O'Connell appears to be a rising star. The punching scene was his best moment in "Unbroken". The only actor in this movie that I was previously familiar with was Domhnall Gleeson. His performance was also noteworthy. I was amazed to find out that this is Miyavi's first movie (He portrays Watanabe and is a singer). The only piece of criticism I have concerning his work was his accent. On the other hand, the Bird did come from a wealthy family so maybe he did speak English that well. I think that Angelina Jolie has a lot of potential as a director. Others may see mistakes with her work but considering that this is only her second film as a director, I can overlook the lack of climax and the use of warm colors. The movie does have its good points because it got nominated at the Oscars for its cinematography, sound mix and sound editing. The story was feature characteristic of "Unbroken" and that alone made the movie enjoyable.

4 Stars