Unbroken (2014)

 

Unbroken focuses on three key periods in the life of Olympian Louis “Louie” Zamperini (played with flashes of intensity by newcomer Jack O’Connell). The key strength of this Angelina Jolie-directed film is its reliance on the extraordinary details of Zamperini’s experiences. Unfortunately, except for some dazzling cinematography and strong supporting performances, the film takes a rather conventional biopic structure to relate the key events in his life. The film opens with Zamperini and the rest of the bomber’s crew being attacked by Japanese fighter planes but managing to return to the base alive despite having their plane badly damaged. However, after this rather dazzling opening, the film uses the traditional trope of reverting to his childhood years. As a young boy, Zamparaini was always getting into fights and drinking and smoking—a troublemaker who is able to run fast enough to elude capture. His brother (played as a young man by John D’Leo) encourages him to take up track and field, which leads to him participating in the infamous 1936 Olympics in Germany and garnering the attention of Adolf Hitler for his fast final lap of the 5,000-meters race. This third of the film’s story is the least interesting perhaps because it mostly sticks to presenting the details of Zamperini’s life without much dramatic tension. We learn very little here about why he becomes the strong survivor that he does. It’s the second segment, when the film returns to his time as a bombardier in the Pacific and the plane crash on a recovery mission that led to him and two other servicemen (played by Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock) spending more than six weeks on a raft together, that we begin to see how remarkable a single person’s life can be. Sometimes the film uses Zamperini’s point-of-view in the raft to allow us the chance to experience just how desperate the three men become. They eat raw fish and drink rainwater to survive, but they still try to keep each other from going mad from sun exposure and the repeated threat of shark attacks. The Japanese navy captures the two survivors and forces them into POW camps. The third segment of the film chronicles Zamparini’s life in two such camps, both of them under the command of Mutsuhiro “The Bird” Watanabe, who singles out the Olympic hero for constant punishment. The torture inflicted by The Bird is tough to watch given how excessive and brutal it is. Given how desperate his condition is, it’s astonishing to watch Zamperini time and again survive the challenges and beatings that The Bird metes out. After watching long stretches of The Bird’s sadistic behavior and Zamparini’s toughness, viewers might find his and other men’s release from the camp almost anticlimactic. What you have to acknowledge after watching Unbroken is that Zamparini led a remarkable life; it’s a shame that this film isn’t more innovative in its (still-admirable) attempts to honor his accomplishments. 

Oscar Nominations: Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, and Best Achievement in Sound Editing