“If I can take it, I can make it.”



Unbroken, produced and directed by Angelina Jolie, is a biopic based on the life of the late American Olympic athlete and prisoner of war survivor Louis Zamperini.

I am huge fan of biopic's, and to be honest I only heard of the movie because i'm a fan of one of the actors. But I was instantly hooked a few seconds into the trailer so I've been waiting patiently for the films release and I was not disappointed.

The film begins in 1943 with Louis and his crew on a bombing mission. During these scenes there are flashbacks to Louis' childhood where he was bullied for being an Italian immigrant and he was constantly getting himself into trouble. Louis' older brother Peter encourages him to join the track team and trains him every day to stop him from heading down the wrong path. As he grows older Louis becomes quite an accomplished runner which takes him to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. I won't say any more about the movie, only that the duration of the film shows Louis' incredible survival story and his time in three prisoner of war camps over the course of two years, where he and the other prisoners are abused at the hands of sadistic Watanabe, or as the Americans like to call him 'The Bird'.

The five leading men all deserve standing ovations

• Louis- Jack O'Connell (300 Rise of an Empire and Skins). 
• Phil- Domhnall Gleeson (About Time and Harry Potter's Bill Weasley!) 
• Fitzgerald- Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy and Pan released later this year).
• Watanabe- Miyavi (a Japanese pop/rock star). 
• Mac- Finn Wittrock (yep Dandy from American Horror Story! fun fact: he actually auditioned for the role of Louis). 

I highly recommend watching the movie and reading the book, obviously there is much more in the book which couldn't be added into the film. I read the book after and felt that although Angelina did a superb job of showing Louis' strength and courage on film, I found myself forming more of a connection with book Louis than movie Louis. I personally would have loved to have seen more of Louis' pre and post war life on screen but I understand how difficult it must be to condense a story like this into a two hour film. However, it was amazing to see a little clip during the end montage of 80 year old Louis finally fulfilling his dream of running again at the Winter Olympics in Japan in 1998 despite everything he had been through there during the war. (Louis ran during the 1998 torch relay, he wished to compete in the 1940 Tokyo Olympics but they were cancelled due to the war).

Unbroken is out now in most parts of the world and is opening in New Zealand today. Keep a couple of tissues handy, you're going to walk away feeling very emotional but very inspired.
 Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand is also available from most book stores! 

K.
x