Unbroken (English)
Director: Angelina Jolie
Cast: Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi, Jai Courtney
This is a movie that has been made with lots of love, care and respect and it shows in every frame and on every plane of the clean-cut soldiers’ faces. Watching Unbroken , one is reminded of the saying of god taking his time over one of his creations.
On the flip side, the film is rather predictable and one-sided and so even though based on true events, the sense of drama and catharsis at the end of great suffering is muted and doesn’t give that feeling of satisfaction. Based on Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 non-fiction work, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption , the film tells the story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympian athlete, who went through a harrowing time when serving as bombardier in World War II. There is no doubt that Zamperini’s story is inspirational — he survived 47 days in the open seas after his bomber was downed and also cruelty in the many prisoner-of-war camps he was interred in.
Hillenbrand also wrote Seabiscuit: An American Legend about a racehorse beating all odds and capturing America’s imagination during the Depression. That was made into a hugely entertaining film in 2003 with Tobey Maguire playing the jockey, Red Pollard, who like Seabiscuit is spirited even after being “banged up” by life.
Unbroken is not entertaining so much as worshipful of the source material. The film ticks all the checkboxes from the unruly childhood, the uneasiness of the immigrant experience, the easy camaraderie between the soldiers who are the brightest and best America has to offer, to the horrors of being lost at sea (the hunger, the thirst, the storm, the sharks, the strafing and the sunburn) down to the psychopathic camp commander who is wicked for no other reason than because he can.
Then when towards the end of the film’s 137 minute running time, Zamperini is forced to hold up a beam by the cruel camp commander and his shadow looks like the crucified Christ, you feel like you’ve had enough. Though Unbroken doesn’t feel rushed, you don’t know anything about the principal players. What drives Zamperini? Is it patriotism, common decency or ego? Why is Watanbe so cruel—is there a homoerotic subtext there?
In interviews, director Jolie has spoken of spending sleepless nights hoping to be worthy keeper of the story. Maybe if she was less reverential, she would have been able to get under Zamperini’s skin better and told a more gripping tale.
