Director Angelina Jolie has adapted Laura Hillenbrand's great biography, Unbroken, and made a conventional story about one of America's true heroes, Louis Zamperini. I'll continue to think about how Jolie could have made this more suspenseful, considering Louis was an Olympic runner, stayed in a life boat for the world record 47 days, and survived torture in two Japanese POW camps.
Although the film shows Louis to survive unbroken, despite the-Passion-of-The-Christ-like torture overdose, and follows his life story accurately, there's no soul, just dutiful recounting of the separate incidents. As a colleague commented, the real life footage of Louis returning as an old man to run the Olympic torch is more engaging and emotional than the whole film.
The cinematography of the renowned Roger Deakins is splendid on land and sea while Alexandre Desplat's music swells with romance at the right times. Otherwise, it's business as usual—get the history right. For me, a filmmaker could play with the story to make it more meaningful and involve more emotion if she has to—and Jolie has to.
The mediocre writing, that includes work of the Coens and the screenwriter of Gladiator, William Nicholson, repeats this trite line, "If you can take it, you can make it." Also this line, "One moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory," doesn't sound right, whereas in the book, it does: "A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain." Now that makes sense.
The villain, called Bird, should be a ruthless torturer with emotional issues tied to his lack of promotion and homosexual longings. However Jolie has chosen an androgynous Japanese rock star, Takamasa Ishihara, who doesn't click as mean or psychotic, just barking torture orders to fill his time with an occasionally enigmatic sentence or two to entice us into thinking we havedepth. Like the film, Bird promises much but delivers too little.
As opposed to the boring torture—how about more of his home life or his search for Bird after the war? I want Jolie to do well—she has an exemplary family and solid career as an actress—but, with the negligible first directing effort, In the Land of Blood and Honey, she has yet to achieve as a director.
"I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage." Friedrich Nietzsche
Unbroken tells the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who joined the armed forces in World War II and endured tortured until the end of the war.
Although Unbroken is the third film Angelina Jolie has directed, Jolie skillfully recounts Zamperini's life. The first half weaves in and out of Zamperini's childhood and life in the Japanese prisoner- of-war camp.
Some of the cinematography is gripping, such as the scene in which Zamperini and his friends encounter sharks while they're lost in the middle of an ocean. The opening shots of Zamperini's crew struggling to stay alive in their airplane immediately engage the audience.
Despite the occasional frantic scenes, the movie succeeds best by focusing on its plot, which is intellectually fulfilling. There aren't any extraneous scenes and the story is straightforward. However, I didn't feel emotionally connected. I was looking forward to watching Zamperini develop relationships with his friends during the war. But, there isn't much of that. The ending, which is when the war finally ends, feels a bit rushed and didn't feel gratifying. Most of the film centers on Zamperini withstanding suffering. Although Unbroken is rated PG-13, there are several violent scenes in which the protagonist is beaten. I recommend it for ages 13 to 18.
Jolie's storytelling conveys the themes clearly. Zamperini was known as a troublemaker during his childhood. Yet, he worked hard to become a great runner and eventually was good enough to enter the Olympics. After his crew's plane crashes, he manages to stay alive, even despite a brutal 47 days stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. When he's captured by the Japanese navy and is sent to a prisoner-of-war camp, he endures severe beatings. When he's presented the opportunity to live luxuriously in exchange for aiding the Japanese, he refuses. When the war ends, he forgives his World War II enemies and fulfills his dream by participating in a marathon in Japan. The themes of loyalty, determination, perseverance and forgiveness make the movie very relevant to today's society. As Lauren Hillenbrand writes in her book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, "A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain."
Director Angelina Jolie has adapted Laura Hillenbrand's great biography, Unbroken, and made a conventional story about one of America's true heroes, Louis Zamperini. I'll continue to think about how Jolie could have made this more suspenseful, considering Louis was an Olympic runner, stayed in a life boat for the world record 47 days, and survived torture in two Japanese POW camps.
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Although the film shows Louis to survive unbroken, despite the-Passion-of-The-Christ-like torture overdose, and follows his life story accurately, there's no soul, just dutiful recounting of the separate incidents. As a colleague commented, the real life footage of Louis returning as an old man to run the Olympic torch is more engaging and emotional than the whole film.
The cinematography of the renowned Roger Deakins is splendid on land and sea while Alexandre Desplat's music swells with romance at the right times. Otherwise, it's business as usual—get the history right. For me, a filmmaker could play with the story to make it more meaningful and involve more emotion if she has to—and Jolie has to.
The mediocre writing, that includes work of the Coens and the screenwriter of Gladiator, William Nicholson, repeats this trite line, "If you can take it, you can make it." Also this line, "One moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory," doesn't sound right, whereas in the book, it does: "A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain." Now that makes sense.
The villain, called Bird, should be a ruthless torturer with emotional issues tied to his lack of promotion and homosexual longings. However Jolie has chosen an androgynous Japanese rock star, Takamasa Ishihara, who doesn't click as mean or psychotic, just barking torture orders to fill his time with an occasionally enigmatic sentence or two to entice us into thinking we havedepth. Like the film, Bird promises much but delivers too little.
As opposed to the boring torture—how about more of his home life or his search for Bird after the war? I want Jolie to do well—she has an exemplary family and solid career as an actress—but, with the negligible first directing effort, In the Land of Blood and Honey, she has yet to achieve as a director.
"I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage." Friedrich Nietzsche
Unbroken tells the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who joined the armed forces in World War II and endured tortured until the end of the war.
Although Unbroken is the third film Angelina Jolie has directed, Jolie skillfully recounts Zamperini's life. The first half weaves in and out of Zamperini's childhood and life in the Japanese prisoner- of-war camp.
Some of the cinematography is gripping, such as the scene in which Zamperini and his friends encounter sharks while they're lost in the middle of an ocean. The opening shots of Zamperini's crew struggling to stay alive in their airplane immediately engage the audience.
Despite the occasional frantic scenes, the movie succeeds best by focusing on its plot, which is intellectually fulfilling. There aren't any extraneous scenes and the story is straightforward. However, I didn't feel emotionally connected. I was looking forward to watching Zamperini develop relationships with his friends during the war. But, there isn't much of that. The ending, which is when the war finally ends, feels a bit rushed and didn't feel gratifying. Most of the film centers on Zamperini withstanding suffering. Although Unbroken is rated PG-13, there are several violent scenes in which the protagonist is beaten. I recommend it for ages 13 to 18.
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Jolie's storytelling conveys the themes clearly. Zamperini was known as a troublemaker during his childhood. Yet, he worked hard to become a great runner and eventually was good enough to enter the Olympics. After his crew's plane crashes, he manages to stay alive, even despite a brutal 47 days stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. When he's captured by the Japanese navy and is sent to a prisoner-of-war camp, he endures severe beatings. When he's presented the opportunity to live luxuriously in exchange for aiding the Japanese, he refuses. When the war ends, he forgives his World War II enemies and fulfills his dream by participating in a marathon in Japan. The themes of loyalty, determination, perseverance and forgiveness make the movie very relevant to today's society. As Lauren Hillenbrand writes in her book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, "A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain."