Unbroken is a broken film

Rating: 4/10 (27 May 2016)

Despite looking great this film is very bland. The film seemed to me that it was trying to be beautiful rather than accurately portray the horrors of war. I feel the film held back, in one scene a American POW is what with a stick by a Japanese guard however, the beating is off-screen. I feel had the beating been on-screen then the film would benefit from showing the brutality of prison camps in WWII.
The main Japanese guard was one-dimensional. There were absolutely no redeeming qualities about him. It is very black and white. It shows the evil of the Japanese guards but paints the main character as a saint. At the end of the film it states Louie (the main character) struggled with PTSD and eventually turned to Christianity and forgave his captors. What it doesn't tell you is that he also battled alcoholism and only gave up because his wife threatened to leave him. A film that pops to mind to compare this film to is My Way. While both films are sentimental, My Way had at least the courage to show the brutal side of war and POW camps and show that their are decent and horrible people on both sides of war. At least in My Way the characters eventually learn to respect each other and their relationship develops throughout the film. In this movie, it seems Louie respects the main guard but no reason is given to actually earn any respect.
The title is false. The main character is clearly broken. About an hour in when he is first captured, he soon freaks out in his small cell. Coupled with the fact that the movie even states he suffered with depression, war did clearly break him. This movie tries to be so inspirational but it fails to do even that.
It's a nice looking film that tries to be inspirational. However, it's holding back and feels dishonest. Yeah, it may be pretty but I would rather have a war film that doesn't hold back like Full Metal Jacket than a film that glosses over war in favour of looking pretty.
6/10 (I would rate it lower but the cinematography is good so it would feel unfair to give it a lower rating.)
Edit: After some thought, I have concluded that a 5/10 is fairer and more accurate as the cinematography is the only thing going for this film, everything else is sub-par. (04/09/2016)