Unbroken

Without sounding like a broken record, Hollywood is fascinated with films based on true stories, because so much of the time, truth is and can be more effective, more interesting, more powerful than pure fiction. As with the case of "Unbroken", these adjectives truly fit this film and more.

After a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, Olympian Louis 'Louie' Zamperini (Jack O'Donnell) spends a harrowing 47 days in a life raft with two fellow crewmen, Phil and Mac (Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock) respectively, before he's caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp lead by the ruthless, heartless Watanabe (Takamasa Ishihara).
During the length of time these men were in that camp, they were beaten, humiliated, tortured, malnourished with only scraps to live on...they were broken, however Zamperini knew that if he could take it, he could make it--to quote his brother Pete (John D'Leo) from their early years. He also told God, while in that raft, that if God gets him through all this, he would give his life to God. So with God, his brother's words and his fellow prisoners help, he made it, because he became unbroken.

Others to round out the cast are Garrett Hedlund as Fitzgerald, a fellow prisoner, Jai Courtney as Cup, Maddalena Ischiale as Louise, Vincenzo Amato as Anthony, John Magaro as Tinker, Luke Treadaway as Miller, Louis McIntosh as Harris, Ross Anderson as Blackie, Alex Russell as Pete (Older), C.J. Valleroy as Louie (Young) and Jordan Patrick Smith as Clift.

This was brilliantly directed by Angelina Jolie ("A Place in Time" (Documentary) '07, "In the Land of Blood and Honey" '11) and with the upcoming "By the Sea". The pacing, staging, the way she obviously worked with the editors to represent continuity and clarity was simply spot on. This has been nominated for several Golden Globe Awards and will undoubtedly be noticed come Oscar time. As I stated with "The Homesman" directed by Tommy Lee Jones, if Jolie ever wanted to retire from acting, she could enter the directing avenue full time and excel well. It was equally well written by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson based on the book by Laura Hillenbrand. Typically when a film has this number of writers attached to, it has a great propensity of getting bogged down, lacking cohesiveness, and just getting lost in script, however with great writers as the Coen Brothers, this film could only soar. The writing was tight, cohesive, orderly and depicted true humanity and the redemption especially when there is such hardship--lessons we can all learn from. Kudos to all involved in this production.

Certainly if you like films based on true stories, this will hit home big time, however everyone loves to see the proverbial underdog and how that underdog becomes the victor in spite of the incredible odds against him.

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                 Rated: PG-13                                  137mins.