Movie Review: Unbroken

Unbroken (2014) 

Directed by Angelina Jolie 

Written by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, William Nicholson

Starring Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi, Garrett Hedlund, Finn Whitrock

Release Date December 25th, 2014

Published December 24th, 2014 

Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" is an incredibly powerful experience. The story of real life war hero Louis Zamperini is a confidently directed film that evokes the best of Clint Eastwood, Jolie's director on "Changeling," while also showing Jolie as a sensitive, inquisitive and assured artist. Far more accomplished and commercial than her directorial debut "In the Land of Blood and Honey," "Unbroken" is the announcement of Angelina Jolie as a director of exceptional talent.

"Unbroken," based on a book by Laura Hillenbrand, tells the story of Zamperini, the son of Italian immigrant parents. He became an Olympic athlete and then a war hero, fighting in World War II in the Pacific. Zamperini, played by English actor Jack O'Connell, was just a teenager when he traveled to Germany to compete in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He was barely into his 20s when he was sent to the Pacific Theater and wound up spending 45 days on a raft after the crash of his B1 bomber.

For most, a plane crash and surviving for 45 days in a raft with two other soldiers would be enough for a lifetime. But Zamperini's story has barely begun. Zamperini and fellow crash survivor Russell Allen "Phil" Phillips were saved from their predicament. Unfortunately, their rescue was a Japanese war ship off the coast of Marshall Island, a Japanese stronghold in 1943. Zamperini would spend the next two years, until the very end of World War II, in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. On top of that, his status as an American Olympic athlete earned him the ire of the sadistic Japanese camp commander Matsushiro Watanaba, nicknamed “The Bird.”

The Bird repeatedly tortured Zamperini, forcing him to race camp guards, despite his obviously emaciated condition. When Zamperini loses the race, The Bird strikes him with a bamboo cane, a sadistic device that The Bird employs almost exclusively in relation to Zamperini. A bizarre relationship develops between the two, one that Zamperini doesn't want but indulges to avoid further torture. The Bird chooses to confide in Zamperini as if they are somehow bonded. This strange bond is what pays off the film's final, triumphant moments, when The Bird gives Zamperini an almost-impossible task and Zamperini uses what strength and will he has left to stick it to The Bird.

That Zamperini survived the war is remarkable given the extraordinary obstacles he faced. Director Jolie dramatizes these obstacles in visceral, frightening fashion. The crisp, beautiful cinematography of Roger Deakins, likely on his way to a 12th Oscar nomination, gives "Unbroken" a classic Hollywood look without taking away any of the gut-wrenching power of the story. The film proceeds fearlessly from one set piece to the next, creating both a entertaining and moving portrait of an American hero without becoming simpleminded hagiography.

Much credit belongs to star Jack O'Connell, who delivers a natural, human performance. O'Connell captures the complex dimensions of Zamperini, who began the war as a devout agnostic and slowly came to give his life completely to God. Stories abound about Zamperini who, after the war, preached the word of God and traveled back to Japan to meet with the guards who tortured him for two solid years. Zamperini returned to forgive them for what they did and to tell them about the word of Jesus Christ. Zamperini allegedly even converted a couple of his former tormentors (but The Bird refused to see Zamperini).

Jolie beautifully captures the life and defining faith of Zamperini in "Unbroken." It's easy to be cynical about how someone who survived such trauma would have a “come to Jesus” moment, but "Unbroken" doesn't linger on that. Instead, Jolie sticks to the fact of Zamperini's faith that created within him the will to survive and drove him to become an inspiration to his fellow prisoners.

"Unbroken" is a remarkable portrait of heroism and triumph, filled with rich details of an extraordinary life. Here’s a man who punched a shark, even captured and ate a shark raw. He accomplished incredible feats in about a decade of his life that was so vast its individual pieces could be complete movies on their own. 

That Jolie has made this life into one singular, incredible film is another feat to be celebrated.