A remarkable story but not such a remarkable film

Rating: Null/10 (13 December 2015)

Like most non-Americans I guess, I'd never heard of Louis "Louie" Zamperini before viewing this bio-pic and it is a truly remarkable story: someone who represented the United States in the 5,000 metres at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and then, during his war service as a bombardier with the USAAF, somehow survived drifting in the Pacific for an amazing 47 days, only to find himself a prisoner of war who was brutalised by his Japanese captors. The prisoner camp scenes in the film are ugly and reminiscent of "Bridge On The River Kwai" and "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence".
The director, Angelina Jolie, and the scriptwriters, the Coen brothers, are very well known and treat the material with a respect verging on dullness and as a result this well-made film suffers from a certain lack of characterisation and really weak dialogue. By contrast to director and writers, the actors are virtually unknown: the British star Jack O'Connell as Zamperini, Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson as the other survivor of the time at sea, and Japanese rock musician Takamasa Ishihara (better known by his stage name Miyavi) as the sadistic camp commander Mutsuhiro "The Bird" Watanabe, all of whom acquit themselves well.
In some ways, the final moments of the movie are the most poignant. We learn that Zamperini became a born again Christian who forgave his wartime captors, managed to carry the Olympic torch for the Winter Games in Japan (when he was almost 81), and sadly died aged 97 just before "Unbroken" was released.