Geez, The Greatest Generation is never gonna shut up about this one. Old men will wet themselves over talk of personal sacrifice and commitment to freedom.
Good for them.
I suppose at some point, you kind of have to give it up for anybody who had to endure a POW camp. Oh, I’m sure the tales are embellished, but even if it were a country club with Sunday brunch, it’s hard to fake the “served prison time in the service my country” aspect. That’s kind of a dividing line between unconditional respect and 
everything else.
Louis Zamperini (Jack O’Connell) was just a good ol’ All-American boy … who just happened to compete in the Berlin Olympics, fly bombers in WWII, got stranded for a month-and-a-half in the Pacific Ocean, and then was held prisoner by the Japanese for the remainder of the war. You cannot sell that story short. Only the Grinchiest of killjoys can possibly pretend this life is unremarkable. Any one of those events defines a human being and he had them all in a row as a young man.
Yes, this is a great story. Now, I get to play Grinch. I wasn’t wild about the direction Angelina Jolie took here – we see Louie as a punk kid constantly looking for trouble, ok, fine; then his transition to Olympic distance runner had less depth than Forrest Gump’s transition to football star. And I know we like to build suspense, but, quite frankly, Olympians are not chosen among kids who struggle against local opponents. Olympians tend to beat the tar out of non-Olympians; that’s, um, what separates them. This is the basis of who Louis is and I found it superficial and uninformed.
It sucks to be adrift in the ocean for days and days and days. I kinda wish the make-up and acting had done a better job conveying such. Similarly, in the POW camp, Louis is offered an opportunity to phone home from Tokyo. One decent meal, a shave and a new uniform and suddenly he’s ready to go toe-to-toe with Max Schmeling (go ahead and look him up.
I’ll wait) – the months of starvation and cruelty have disappeared, yay! Now, he’s ready for the sadistic warden (Takamasa Ishihara) once again.
Unbroken suggests a will that would not be suppressed, which is exactly what we get. That’s Louis’ greatest asset and the film milks that character trait throughout, often curbing other personality characteristics in favor of Louis being Louis. The biggest problem with Unbroken is the whole “seen it” aspect. Taking the Japanese prison camp alone, we already have a great historical film (The Bridge on the River Kwai) and a darn good recent film (The Railway Man). Both films had much better character development than Unbroken, hence, well, you’re fighting an uphill battle, Angelina. But I’m sure that won’t break you.
♪I am Unbroken, can’t bend my will, I’m not a tool
In the beginning, I’m kind of a jerk, but I ain’t no fool
Staring at the ocean before me
Open up a can of water
Let the sun evaporate all life before my eyes
Sighting a Zero in the distance,
So close we can almost flag it
Oh shit! He’s firing back
Feel the shrapnel in your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Except that other dude in the boat
Lookie here, lookie here
Can you flag the the ship? We’re saved!
And by “saved” I mean captured
And by “captured” I mean tortured
Frying pan into the fire
But I remain Unbroken♫
Rated PG-13, 137 Minutes
D: Angelina Jolie
W: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson
Genre: Pain
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Members of the Greatest Generation
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Japanese
♪ Parody inspired by “Unwritten”
