Review of Unbroken: Path to Redemption (2018) by Merrill M — 30 Sep 2018

I come to this movie from 2 angles. I am a Christian and I read Unbroken. So seeing the recounting of transformation encourages my faith Secondly I am social worker who does crisis management in an ER.

I get to see the raw emotion of PTSD and addiction played out. I have seen those who have been wronged and they will never forgive those who wronged them. This movie attempts to tell the story of transformation and forgiveness.

Maybe I am jaded but I wasn't made to feel the desperation of Louie and Cynthia nor to feel the depths of how monumental it was for Louie to come face to face with his captors and forgive them. He actually made other efforts to specifically contact "The Bird", including during the Nagano Olympics when I first heard this story, but Bird declined.

The real miracle of the movie was what was shown at the end- Louie's solid faith and testimony at the Billy Graham Crusade, stopped drinking, married to Cynthia for 54 yrs and focused on helping others by the Victory Boys Camp, rather than attempting to just survive day to day.

I hope people don't stop their therapy and medication for treatment of their addiction and PTSD, because those things may be ways that God uses. But I think that the change that Louie went through can give people the "why" to go on striving to get better even if their change is not seemingly immediate.

I recommend this movie because it shows the positive transformation of a person and resulting forgiveness that emanates from that change.