‘Unbroken’ Review

Director: Angelina Jolie
Cast: Jack O’Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund
Running time: 137 minutes

Based on the life of Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini, Unbroken follows Louie from being a troublesome boy who, with the help of his brother, discovers running as an outlet, to becoming a WWII hero. After his plane crashes in the Pacific, he survives 47 days at sea, along with pilot “Phil” Phillips, only to be captured by the Japanese navy and passed on from one prison camp to another.

Frankly, this movie is painful to watch. It features unending physical tortures that the characters experienced during the war. It is like committing to carry your cross until you reach the finish line. Yet being a story of survival, it is the only way to illustrate courage, patience, and perseverance.

Early on we get a glimpse of Louie’s resilience. “If you can take it, you can make it,” his brother always said. But if there’s one thing this movie showed, it is that resilience is contagious. Although this story focused on one man taking all the beatings, it won’t be missed that there in the background are the pilot’s quiet faith, another crew holding on, and POWs taking care of each other. It would have been nice to know their little stories, too, because they were all unbroken men.