Real-life cinema

Rating: 7/10 (4 November 2015)

Released in 2014, "Unbroken" chronicles the true-life story of Louie Zamperini (Jack O'Connell) who ran the 5000 meter race in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and later joined the US Army Air Corps for WWII. Upon crashing in the Pacific he and two others (Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Witrock) must survive on a raft for almost seven weeks. When found by the Japanese they're placed in a POW camp and suffer the wrath of the commandant (Miyavi). Will they survive?
Directed by Angelina Jolie and scripted (partly) by the Coen brothers and based on Zamperini's biography by Laura Hillenbrand, this is a totally realistic account of Louie's war-time trials and was a minor hit at the box office. What was it like being in the air on a bombing mission over Japan taking hits by nigh-suicidal Jap planes? What was it like to survive on a raft in the Pacific week after week? What was it like to live in a Japanese POW camp? "Unbroken" shows you without amping-up the melodramatics and action. This explains why some viewers call it "bland" and what have you. They're so used to "Die Hard," "GI JOE" and 007 that movies that aim for real-life bore them. That said, I don't want to come off as a film snob because I DO understand their criticism. It just comes down to what you want out of a movie, real-life or blockbuster theatrics? So before watching this movie you have to psychologically prepare yourself for a film akin to other realistic war biographies, like 2002's "The Pianist," 2006' "Rescue Dawn" and 2014's "American Sniper." If you want "Spectre" you should skip "Unbroken."
The movie is long enough as it is and therefore doesn't depict Louie's later PTSD and alcoholism or his Billy Graham-inspired reconciliation to God, although it mentions these things in the postscript. In any case, "Unbroken" accomplishes precisely what it set out to do, put Louie's story to film for the world to see, and it does it very well. It may not be exceptional like 1957's "The Bridge on the River Kwai," but – being a biography – it never set out to compete with that film.
The film runs 137 minutes and was shot in eastern Australia.
GRADE: B+