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Things go from bad to worse for World War II airman Louis Zamperini in this reverential war drama from Angelina Jolie. It is her second feature as director and adventure-seeking audiences – if they can survive the 47 days lost at sea and the cruelty inflicted during his two years at a Japanese POW camp – are sure to take it in this week. Based on a true story, it is amazing that Zamperini survived the harsh events at all. The Olympic distance runner – who shook the congratulatory hand of Adolf Hitler in 1936 (a moment not included in the movie) – passed away this year but is honored as the subject of Unbroken.
Adapted by Joel and Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King) and William Nicholson (Gladiator) from Laura Hillenbrand’s nonfiction bestseller, Unbroken’s uplifting tale shows Zamperini – played by Jack O’Connell - as a scraggily depression-era child with a knack for finding trouble to 1936 Olympic distance runner and, eventually, POW survivor after years of torture by one of the most wanted war criminals in Japan, Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe (memorably played by the Japanese pop star Miyavi). Co-starring Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock, Unbroken tests the limits of one man’s spirit to survive against all sorts of worst-case scenarios, including sharks, starvation, Mother Nature, and human cruelty.
Unbroken and its looks are brought to life by famed cinematographer Roger Deakins. While Alexandre Desplait's bold score invites us in, it is Deakins’ vision of the era that elevates the film and its locations to a higher standard. His old-fashioned style throughout the film has a type of crispness to the locales and the situations that is immediately noticed. The smallest details become the frames we remember in this journey of survival in the face of a POW camp commander groomed by shame and indignity.
Jolie, as a director, has a keen eye for developing emotions and weaving a powerful cinematic tapestry onto which the story unfolds. There are several nice moments, directorial-wise, that keeps this from being what Sony-executives might dismiss as a vanity project from a “spoiled” and “minimally talented” actress. Throughout Unbroken, she remains the hidden storyteller that keeps the momentum very real and her actors, most of whom are very, very new to the cinema, dug in.
While there is a lot that is brushed over in its presentation, Unbroken remains locked in on the war as Zamperini knew it while remaining in good taste. And the 137 minute running time is more than enough for it to become inspirational. Zing Jolie all you want to for being conventional with this story but she is, to coin a phrase, more than just another pretty face. Unbroken remains firmly within the Clint Eastwood sentimental territory as a film. Eastwood as a director (and not a crazy person on a political platform talking to an empty chair) is turning heads again with American Sniper so that comparison is not a jab. Jolie has the steady hand needed to helm difficult material.
This Holiday Season, watch a 9-year-old cigarette-smoking, whiskey-drinking delinquent become a member of Hollywood's three-act tradition in Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. You won’t regret it.
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for war violence including intense sequences of brutality, and for brief language.
Runtime: 137 mins
Director: Angelina Jolie
Writer: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Cast: Jack O'Connell, Takamasa Ishihara, Domhnall Gleeson
Genre: Drama | Military
Tagline: Unbroken
Memorable Movie Quote: "If I can take it, I cam make it.."
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Official Site: http://www.unbrokenfilm.com/
Release Date: December 25, 2014
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: No details available.
Synopsis: Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie directs and produces Unbroken, an epic drama that follows the incredible life of Olympian and war hero Louis Louie Zamperini (Jack OConnell) who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWIIonly to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp. Adapted from Laura Hillenbrands (Seabiscuit: An American Legend) enormously popular book, Unbroken brings to the big screen Zamperinis unbelievable and inspiring true story about the resilient power of the human spirit.
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
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