Unbroken (Jack O’Connell, Takamasa Ishihara, Domhnall Gleeson) – The only thing that feels more like hell than watching Unbroken is having lived the real-life experience of Louis Zamperini.
Zamperini was a gifted distance runner who finished third in an Olympic race in the 1936 Berlin Games. His life changed, as so many gifted athletes of that era did, when World War II called. He served as a bombardier, whose ill-fated rescue mission left him and two others stranded at sea. Their long survival battling weather, hunger, and sharks would be an interesting enough story. But when the Japanese navy rescues two of them, Zamperini’s life turned from nightmare to unimaginable horror.
For more than two long hours, we live Louis’ hell: physical beatings beyond belief, hard labor requiring super-human strength, and psychological trauma no human should ever have to bear. If this weren’t a true story, one might think all of this is greatly exaggerated.
Based on a Laura Hillenbrand (Seabiscuit) book, this Angelina Jolie-directed film is very well-written by the Coen Brothers in a definite departure from any of their previous work, Richard LaGravenese, and William Nicholson. The movie is grand in scope and beautifully photographed. With an estimated $65 million in costs and over $100 million in box office receipts, it is an unexpected hit. Who would have thought yet another World War II film would strike a chord in a war-weary nation? Kudos to Jolie and a talented group of unknown, very skinny actors.
The caution to those considering seeing this film is that there is lots of violence, implied and otherwise, that makes this viewing experience difficult and depressing. This may not be an uplifting film, but it is a tale of an indomitable spirit whose motto is “It I can take it, I can make it.” The same can be said of the audience.