Ok, before I start this, I think it’s important to note that number one, I haven’t seen Jolie’s directorial debut attempt In The Land of Blood and Honey. Number two, I knew hardly anything (oh, alright, nothing) about Louis Zamperini, the American Olympic athlete and World War II prisoner of war. I went into this film completely blind. Which still left me disappointed.
Unbroken follows the life of Louis Zamperini, his near fatal plane crash in WWII, the subsequent capture by the Japanese Navy and his torturous time in their prisoner of war camp.
Actually, in his Olympic games, his record breaking final lap sprint gained him the attention of a certain Adolf Hitler and a one on one meeting with him. Some other reports said that he also stole one of Hitler’s personal flags at that same games. But none of this is covered in the film. In fact, bar one shot of the crowds, which hauntingly had swastika’s adorning every flagpole: the film doesn’t delve into the politics of the Second World War at all. It’s all about Zamperini, and doesn’t move way from that. Nearly every scene in the film has him featured. We skip over him enlisting to the military and go back to rejoin him on the plane, just before it crashes at sea and leaves him stranded on a lifeboat for 47 days. Credit to Jolie though, some of the shots during the combat war scenes from the plane and the sounds of war were very well done. The plane crash itself was brilliantly shot.
Unbroken works in two acts. The first act is everything leading up to Zamperini’s capture by the Japanese, which is focused on him and his team surviving in a lifeboat for a month a half. Then after is your straight POW story; filled with intense and brutal scenes that are rightly needed to portray this side of war. The lethargic nature of the first act is completely juxtaposed against the second and it unsettles you. This is where Jolie really gets into her stride and her actors hitch it up a notch, most notably Jack O’Connell who plays Zamperini.
The extreme relationship between Louis and his captor, a gleefully vicious Japanese officer known as ‘The Bird’, played by Japanese rock god Miyavi (aka Takamasa Ishihara), is riveting. Jolie had stated that she wanted someone with presence and someone who commanded attention whilst playing the role. As a performing musician, he did that every time he stepped onto the stage. The power play between the two characters is the real winner in this act and you do find yourself willing Zamperini to finish first (sorry, running pun). Though the dynamics of the relationship works the way it was meant to, unnerving and affecting. But sometimes Miyavi’s performance was slightly too camp and it crossed that line into stereotypical Japanese bad guy.
Overall, Unbroken is good. There are some ok shots from Jolie and great performances from the cast. At the same time, it’s very straight laced. Nothing jumps out at you to really pull at your heart-strings (apart from the real life photos of Louis at the end) or shock you enough for you to get really uncomfortable. As a war film, there’s better ones out there and as a biopic, it’s average and it leaves out a lot of juicy tidbits (i.e. stealing Hitler’s flag). Plus, the film very obviously hits you in the face with the ‘overcoming adversity’ message, which may annoy you, or you may take it in stride.
It’s very good, just not brilliant and at times, a worthwhile watch. And as an Awards contender, it may just miss the mark.
Unbroken is out Boxing Day