Unbroken

Rating: 6/10 (31 January 2015)

I vaguely remember having heard Louis Zamperini's name regarding his Olympic fame, but I completely ignored his story as an allied bomber during World War II. His devastating experiences in combat and after having been shot down are certainly inspiring, and they undoubtedly deserved a film... but I think that the film Unbroken couldn't make justice to that story, because despite its solid manufacture, it isn't able to evoke an emotional answer on the audience. Besides, allowing myself some cynicism, Unbroken seems to have been designed to win Oscars, and that erodes the honesty of the film, which already feels cold and distant, even more... exactly the opposite of what we would expect in a film about "the triumph of human spirit". On the one hand, the absence of sentimentality and narrative frivolity denotes a considerable respect for the hardships suffered by the characters; but on the other hand, such lack of empathy ends up making the film a historical pamphlet which is informative and well produced... but hollow and forgettable. The performances are also a factor in that sensation of coldness. Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson and Garrett Hedlund don't feel credible in their roles, and they can never transmit the psychological havoc of their characters' situation, or the internal struggle they had to go through. In conclusion, I appreciated the didactic intention of Unbroken, as well as its polished manufacture. This film didn't bore me, but it feels more like an impersonal History lesson than as an endearing and human tale. I can give a slight recommendation to Unbroken, even though I feel that having spent half an hour in Wikipedia reading about this story would have provoked the same effect on me.