UNBROKEN

Reviewed by  Paul Gibbs & Patrick Gibbs








GRADE: A +

Jack O'Connell, Domnhall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund,
Miyavi, Jai Courtney, Finn Witrock, Alex Russell

Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen and Richard LaGravense and William Nicholson
Directed by Angelina Jolie
Rated PG -13 (violence, adult themes, profanity)

The story of Louis Zamperini is a harrowing, inspiring drama that was crying out to be made into a major motion picture, and the success of Laura Hillenbrand's book assured that it would be. What was less obvious was that Angelina Jolie would be the one to tell it. Fortunately, not only does the acclaimed actress prove herself to be a major talent behind the camera, she also has the brains to surround herself with people who are at the top of their field, from screenwriters to editors to a master cinematographer. The result is an old fashioned Hollywood epic that ranks among the more impressive efforts we've seen from an up and coming actor/director, worthy of comparison to the Oscar-winning successes of Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner from the 90s. And in many ways it plays more like a 90s film that a 2014 release, Not only is it something of a stylistic throwback, but Jolie's restraint in depicting the horrors of war and Zamperini's resilience to them is something we rarely see in today's Hollywood. She has managed to keep the film appropriate for the family audience it's trying to reach without it feeling like a whitewash.

Born in 1917, Zamperini (played most of the way by Jack O'Connell, in a breakout performance) lead an extraordinary life. The son of Italian immigrants, Zamperini begins the film as a delinquent getting into fights, sneaking booze and generally causing his family no end of headaches. When his old brother Pete spots young Louis' gift for running, that becomes an outlet for turning his life around. Soon, Louis is running in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

With the beginning of World War II, Zamperini becomes a bomber on a B-24. When his plane is shot down, he and two other crewmembers (Domnall Gleeson and  FinnWitrock) spend 40 days adrift in a life raft without the benefit of a volleyball or a tiger.  Unfortunately, when rescue finally comes its at the hands of the enemy, and Zamperini is forced to spend the rest of the war in a Japanese prison camp, where a brutal corporal (Miyavi) singles him out for some of the worst treatment.

While it's a fairly predictable yarn of determination and heroism winning out against impossible odds, Unbroken is saved from becoming maudlin by the skill of those in front of and behind the camera, and by Jolie's obvious sincere respect for Zamperini, which avoids becoming fawning hero worship. Jolie credits co-screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen for keeping the film from becoming excessively sentimental (it may teeter too close to that for some tastes, but not ours), and composer Alexander Desplat helps elicit emotion with another moving score. But the MVP may well be director of photography Roger Deakins, who works with Jolie to create a look that reminded us of David Lean and Steven Spielberg (especially Empire of the Sun, which was essentially Spielberg doing David Lean). And along with editors William Goldenberg (Oscar winner for Argo) and Tim Squyres, Jolie has escaped the inexperienced director trap of letting her epic drag on too long and lose its sense of pacing. Finally, she's served well by her cast, which is also served well by her capable direction. O'Connell has a charisma and presence which make it easy for him to carry a film like this on his shoulders, and he's ably backed up by the likes of Gleeson and Garrett Hedlund.

While it's sure to be too conventional and "inspirational" for some (as evidenced by the mixed reviews), we found Unbroken to be a moving and life-affirming film which showed a potentially exciting future for Jolie as a director. It swept us up in its narrative and kept us hooked for its 2 hour and 17 minute run time, and wasn't easy to shake off for a few days after. Its not going to win a lot of fans among the edgy post-modern crowd, but for those who can appreciate a skillfully woven and inspiring portrait of survival, it may be the perfect film for the holiday season. For us it ranks among the best movie-going experiences of 2014, where it's a major Oscar player or not.

Unbroken is rated PG-13 for realistic but surprisingly restrained violence, a little bit of profanity and some heavy adult themes. It's an actual,literal PG-13, an incredibly rare case where the MPAA rating actually seems to have it right.  Don't take children much younger than that but there's nothing in it a 13 year old can't handle.