Review of Unbroken (2014) by Byron B — 24 Feb 2015

Celebrates the "Greatest Generation." Jolie directs a solid biopic in the classic mold. Scenes of the troubled immigrant boy, training to be an Olympic runner, and joining the Army to fly in a bomber are all intercut.

Then I was surprised that when the story turned to survival the flashbacks stopped. Surviving in a raft on the open ocean is presented with a lot of tension. The film begins to vaguely talk about faith.

When Louie Zamperini gets to the Japanese POW camps the movie reminded me of The Bridge on the River Kwai, but with more torture and a less dynamic head Japanese prison officer. Lifting the large wooden beam is a symbol that turns Zamperini into a Christ figure and the sudden shame filled emotional outburst from Watanabe falsely reveals a simplistic good/evil, white/black, Allied/Axis dualism hidden in the central themes of this picture.

Not that memorable now a couple months later.