UNBROKEN
Director: Angelina Jolie
Cert: 15. 137 mins
Unbroken tells the remarkable real-life story of Louis Zamperini (Jack O’Connell).
Coached by his brother Pete (Alex Russell), who wouldn’t let him settle for being nothing (‘A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory’; ‘If you can take it, you can make it’), Louis represented the US at the 1936 Olympics as a runner. He then fought for the US in the Second World War, and when his plane went down over the Pacific Ocean, he and others were stranded at sea for 47 days.
Prisoner of war
His ordeal didn’t stop there, because he was then taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese, and was singled out by the brutal Corporal Watanbe (Mivayi, aka Takamasa Ishihara) for failing to bow to Watanbe’s legalistic understanding of ‘respect’. Louis bravely held up under seemingly endless mistreatment, and although he didn’t find much of a faith until later (the film is vague on the details of his faith, but mentions him ultimately choosing forgiveness rather than revenge), the film could be seen to convey an idea of Christ’s sufferings or being persecuted for following him (cf. Psalm 22, Psalm 37, Hebrews 12:1-3).
The highlight of the film is Roger Deakins’s excellent cinematography, which provides ample light to contrast with the darkness, with this visual contrast representing the theme of hope and endurance through suffering.
However, Unbroken is emotionally draining enough to be the kind of film that one would not want to watch all the time. Thankfully, there are also many other films featuring the theme of triumph over adversity, from blockbusters such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises and the Spider-Man films, to smaller fare such as Rudy, Cool Runnings and Run, Fatboy, Run.
Unbroken is an accomplished, emotionally intense film, where you almost experience the trials along with the characters, and it is ultimately life-affirming. But it is sad that the most momentous event of Louis Zamperini’s life, namely his conversion to Christ at Billy Graham’s Los Angeles Crusade in 1949, is absent.
