Utmost Respect for Ms. Jolie

Rating: 8/10 (5 January 2015)

First, I did not read the book, so cannot make any comparison. My wife and I were interested in seeing this movie after seeing an interview with Louie on 'CBS Sunday Morning.' We both enjoyed the movie. Obviously the entire book would not fit into the time allotted for a feature film, but we felt this captured the most significant part of Louie's story, his survival when faced with ridiculous odds. Yes, it might have been interesting to see more of his pre-war days and his post-war days, but the film was more about one man's incredible spirit rather than about the man himself.
Some have indicated they thought the movie dragged on, but I never had any sense of how long it was. The action scenes were expertly done and very realistic looking, at least to someone who never experienced similar moments, and I thought the portrayal of the prison camp gave a good sense of the suffering involved.
But the most amazing thing to me, and why Ms. Jolie jumped a peg or two in my eyes, is that I don't recall a single vulgarity in the film, and that's unheard of these days, especially a war film. Don't get me wrong, I've cursed plenty and have no problem with cursing in films, but I do think it gets overused and often has no relevance to either the story or characters. It was very refreshing to watch a film where the director (or perhaps writers) felt similarly.