Unbroken (2014)
Cast includes: Jack O’Connell (Starred Up), Domhnall Gleeson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), Takamasa Ishihara (Oresama), Finn Wittrock (Noah)
Director: Angelina Jolie (In the Land of Blood and Honey)
Writers: Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men), based on a book by Laura Hillenbrand (Seabiscuit)
Genre: Drama | Biography (137 minutes)
We first see the bombers like birds in the sunrise sky. Bombardier Louis Zamperini has the target in sight… “Bombs away.” “Incoming at 10:00,” is the bad news. Despite heavy damage, Lou’s plane, Super Man, makes it back to base, crashing into the rocks at the end of the runway. In a flashback, we see young Zamperini stealing cigarettes and liquor… again. “Hey, Wop! Why don’t you go back to Italy!” Lou is not on a good path. Seems like he is always running from authorities. It’s his brother Pete who finally figures out how to channel Lou’s talents… training for the track team. “I can’t make a team,” Lou protests. “If you can take it, you can make it,” says Pete. Lou does make the track team… “Boy, oh boy; can that boy fly!” They dub him the “Torrance Tornado,” and he’s soon recognized as the “fastest high school runner in America.” He even wins a spot on the US Olympic team. Heading off to Berlin, Lou tells Pete this is only a warm up for the Tokyo Olympics in 4 years. Even though Jesse Owens was the superstar of the Berlin Olympics, Zamperini lead the American team in the distance event.
The next mission for Super Man is a rescue in the middle of the ocean. You’d think the plane would have been scrapped, but they patched her up and sent the crew out to the middle of the Pacific. Searching for a downed plane is boring business, so Mac decides to tell jokes… “So, a duck walks into this bar…” Suddenly an engine goes out. That’s bad news. Then 2 more go out, and they have to ditch the plane in the ocean. By Day 3, they figure out how to catch an occasional fish. “This is how the Japanese eat fish… raw,” says Phil. “It’s not food until you cook it,” says Lou. It’s obvious that survival and maintaining sanity isn’t going to be easy while drifting out here in the middle of nowhere. Lou doesn’t see the point of prayer, but Phil prays anyway. Phil’s plan is… “You go on living the best you can until one day it’s over.” He ties knots in a bit of rope to remember how many days they’ve been adrift. The rope is full of knots when a shadow wakes them up. “I have good news, and bad news,” says Lou when Phil opens his eyes. The shadow is from a Japanese war ship.
What follows is a series of brutal conditions and beatings as they’re moved from place to place… finally being transferred to Omori prisoner of war camp near Tokyo. “Is this you?” they ask, pointing to a newspaper clipping with Lou’s Olympian picture. As it turns out, this makes him even more of a target for the sadistic Watanabe, “the Bird.” Unbroken is a difficult film to watch because of the brutality. It’s hard to say which brutal event is worse, but it’s a wonder that any POWs survived. Based on the best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand, it was adapted for the screen by the Coen brothers and directed by Angelina Jolie. We’ve seen these themes before, but this is a very powerful telling… good acting, cinematography, direction and script. Louis Zamperini was a hard prisoner to break, but even he had his limits. At one especially low point, a fellow prisoner echoed sentiments of Lou’s brother Pete. “We beat them by making it to the end of the war alive.” Zamperini did and he eventually told his story.
4 popped kernels
True story of a record-setting Olympian, WWII bombardier and Japanese POW survivor
Popcorn Profile
Rated: PG-13 (Violence)
Audience: Young Adults & Grown-ups
Gender Style: Bold
Distribution: Mainstream Wide Release
Mood: Sober
Tempo: Cruises Comfortably
Visual Style: High-End Production
Nutshell: WWII POW
Language: True to life
Social Significance: Informative
