Some movies such as Million Dollar Baby manage the trick of shifting gears midway, so that two different tonal “genres” are effectively stitched into one fulfilling whole. It’s that sort of template that Unbroken chases. It is based on Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 bestseller, and every widely varying incident of real-life Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini is good cinematic material. Zamperini’s 97-year-long life was filled with unbelievable drama — from a troubled youth as an Italian immigrant to finding redemption in long-distance running that took him to the Olympics, from surviving horrific wartime episodes to dealing with equally horrific post-traumatic stress disorder.
Understandably, producer/director Angelina Jolie has to make decisions on what parts of this sprawling life she will show in Unbroken , the epic drama about Zamperini (played by Jack O’Connell). Jolie and her distinguished gaggle of writers — Joel and Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson — choose two aspects, and neither is an easy watch.
The second — which is the extended heart of the film, centres on his brutalisation at Japanese war camps. In particular, he has to face the intense targeted viciousness of Cpl. Mutsuhiro Watanabe, aka the Bird (played by Japanese rock star Miyavi).
We can barely watch the relentless sadism handed out by the Bird whose perverted love-hate response to Louie is expressed only as acts of extreme violence. Yet, strangely enough, all of it is like an interminable endurance test rather than a moving cinematic experience. The violence is presented as an end in itself, rather than a way of revealing some deeper truth; it feels like an echo of what we already know about extreme Japanese cruelty during the war.
“If you can take it, you can make it,” is the mantra that Zamperini comes to live by; but we aren’t allowed to understand where his fortitude comes from, and what pushes him to being a survivor. Unbroken is a handsomely mounted production with DOP Roger Deakins capturing both epic panorama and vivid detail, all of it shot in Australia. There are flashes of riveting cinema, such as the opening sequence when a pristine sky becomes populated by fighters on a bombing raid and the action then fluidly moves into the airplane where Zamperini as a World War II Army Air Corps bombardier is flying with a bunch of mates, including Phil.
As a director, Jolie returns to a familiar subject — the brutality of war, that she explored in her 2011 feature film directing debut as well, In the Land of Blood and Honey . Jolie is a skilful director, handles the large set pieces well, and gets good performances out of her cast, especially from British actor O’Connell. However, by focussing just on endurance and survival, she risks the experience of it being a one-note film.
This story about a member of the so-called Greatest Generation comes in as just about good enough rather than truly great, competent rather than inspired.
