Louis Zamperini was an amazing man: a giant example more people need to follow. Unbroken tracks the runner’s odyssey through a series of horrific tests on his resolve. Zamperini’s tale makes me really contemplate how petty my personal hurdles are, but it also gives me hope that there might be some inner piece of my being willing to rage against the dying of the light.
Unbroken covers Zamperini’s (Jack O’Connell) rise through the running ranks (in flashback) to a bombardier in WWII. Zamperini’s plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean, where he was stranded for several weeks with friends Phil (Domhnall Gleeson) and Mac (Finn Wittrock). Zamperini survives, but only to end up in a Japanese prison camp run by the sadistic man known as the Bird (Takamasa Ishihara). Zamperini digs deeper to hold out, but it’s not easy since the Bird knows he is a popular US figure.
Director Angelina Jolie and cinematographer Roger Deakins go to great lengths to show how much Zamperini had to deal with. Early on, the flashbacks setup how much of a fighter the man is, and how much it takes others putting him down for Zamperini to push himself beyond his personal limits. These scenes are crucial to understanding why Zamperini keeps going. Deakins presents the sea as a beast of unnatural stillness, host of terrifying creatures, or reckless stormy menace. The camps are barren and wooden, giving a rigidity to the desolation. The Bird is scary in his irrationality; every crazy action is unannounced and usually unwarranted. Through it all, we see Zamperini carry lesser men through these haunting travails, and even get to see some ethical stands when it would be so easy to take a plea bargain. Jolie and Deakins paint the runner as a larger than life figure to be revered, and in that Unbroken succeeds.
However, this means the movie needs something else to keep it consistently interesting, and Angelina Jolie and the screenwriters lack in that department after the water rescue. The time at sea reminded me of a truncated Life of Pi, with similar dialogue and trials experienced by the three men as the boy and tiger, and a genuine worry about (other than Zamperini) who would live and die. The prison sequences tend to show the Bird as a cold hellish power hungry man and Zamperini as the beacon of light to the prisoners. This plot point takes center stage and doesn’t provide any other characters enough context to justify additional rooting interest. As that note keeps getting hit, Unbroken spins its wheels until the eventual reconciliation of Louie and his family. While it is comforting to watch someone defeat the odds again and again, it would have been nice to see Jolie do a little more character digging after the war to show how Zamperini eventually forgave his captors and became a god-fearing man.
Jack O’Connell does make Louis Zamperini look like a badass. The Brit-playing-Italian-American actor physically matches Zamperini at his different periods and does the best he can playing channeled anger. I’d have like to see the screenplay give him more leeway for interpretation. Takamasa Ishihara is requisitely fearsome as the cold Bird. Domhnall Gleeson is solid as the pilot of the plane shot down, and Garrett Hedlund (as a prisoner), Finn Wittrock, and Alex Russell (as Zamperini’s boyhood friend) do well enough work with underwritten roles.
Unbroken is a perfect Christmas movie. At a time where you want to feel warm and good, the tale of Louis Zamperini should give every American goosebumps at the show of resolve, ethics, and patriotism. And the threat of shark attacks; seriously, they make every movie better.