Unbroken - Review
Director: Angelina Jolie Starring: Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi Genre: War-drama
"A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory"
"A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory"
This Christmas see's the return of the most recent actor-turned-director Angelina Jolie with her ambitious account of the life of Louis Zamperini in Unbroken.
A young Italian immigrant Louis Zamperini pushes his way out of a troubled childhood to become a champion runner who qualifies for the 5000m at the 1939 Berlin Olympics. Following the outbreak of WW2 Zamperini served as a pilot for the United States Army Air Corps. One plane he was flying crashed into the ocean off the coast of Hawaii and was he was left for dead floating upon a raft for 47 days. Surviving off raw albatross and fish for nearly two months Zamperini was only to be immediately captured by Japanese forces and sent to a brutal POW camp for two years.
In what appears (to me) to be an outstanding performance, Zamperini offers a very demanding role for Jack O'Connell previously of Skins fame. (who knew Cook could be so emotionally available?) From the distinct Zamperini-esque running style to the California dialect and O'Connell's emaciated body during the raft sequences he has clearly got his hands of a role that enables him to showcase his diverse acting abilities. O'Connell has the impressive trait of injecting the character with humility and emotion whilst simultaneously having the hard 'man's-man' quality that he is associated with.
During Zamperini's time in the P.O.W camps he endured the cruel reign of camp officer Miyaui "The Bird" Watanabe played fantastically by Japanese rock star-turned-actor Miyavi. Jolie does not shy away from the violence. One particularly gruesome scene depicts an event where The Bird gets every prisoner in the camp to punch Zamperini in the face until he is left bloody and unconscious on the floor.
Domhnall Gleeson is also exceptional as Russell 'Phil' Phillips and Garrett Hedlund and Luke Treadaway also proved solid supporting characters.
Alexandre Desplat provides a well-rounded adequate score, nothing too fancy that distracts from the screen but one that adds to the tension. However, the random Coldplay song 'Miracles' during the closing credits was rather unexpected.
The only real fault I had with the overall film, is that I would have liked to have seen more of the running. Louis success as an athlete and his time at the Olympics was only a small fraction of the impressive things he managed to achieve throughout his life, and maybe due to time/money some scenes had to be cut out. Nevertheless, I look forward to a directors cut.
The main issue Unbroken may come up against is this. Louis Zamperini's life was so extraordinary, and he survived some of the most unimaginable experiences that he appears to be a superhero. Because of this it is easy to forget everything that happens within the film is based on true life events. Jolie has spoken about certain real life events such as Zamperini punching a shark to death whilst on the raft and his one-to-one meeting with Adolf Hitler at the Olympics (Hitler himself wanted to personally meet Louis) that had to be cut from the script as they were too 'unbelievable'.
The ending sequence explicitly reminds the audience of real-life origins of the film that acts as an emotional reflective device and hones down the films messages of the human spirit and forgiveness.
And that Louis Zamperini's life can be an example for us all.
A young Italian immigrant Louis Zamperini pushes his way out of a troubled childhood to become a champion runner who qualifies for the 5000m at the 1939 Berlin Olympics. Following the outbreak of WW2 Zamperini served as a pilot for the United States Army Air Corps. One plane he was flying crashed into the ocean off the coast of Hawaii and was he was left for dead floating upon a raft for 47 days. Surviving off raw albatross and fish for nearly two months Zamperini was only to be immediately captured by Japanese forces and sent to a brutal POW camp for two years.
In what appears (to me) to be an outstanding performance, Zamperini offers a very demanding role for Jack O'Connell previously of Skins fame. (who knew Cook could be so emotionally available?) From the distinct Zamperini-esque running style to the California dialect and O'Connell's emaciated body during the raft sequences he has clearly got his hands of a role that enables him to showcase his diverse acting abilities. O'Connell has the impressive trait of injecting the character with humility and emotion whilst simultaneously having the hard 'man's-man' quality that he is associated with.
During Zamperini's time in the P.O.W camps he endured the cruel reign of camp officer Miyaui "The Bird" Watanabe played fantastically by Japanese rock star-turned-actor Miyavi. Jolie does not shy away from the violence. One particularly gruesome scene depicts an event where The Bird gets every prisoner in the camp to punch Zamperini in the face until he is left bloody and unconscious on the floor.
Domhnall Gleeson is also exceptional as Russell 'Phil' Phillips and Garrett Hedlund and Luke Treadaway also proved solid supporting characters.
Alexandre Desplat provides a well-rounded adequate score, nothing too fancy that distracts from the screen but one that adds to the tension. However, the random Coldplay song 'Miracles' during the closing credits was rather unexpected.
The only real fault I had with the overall film, is that I would have liked to have seen more of the running. Louis success as an athlete and his time at the Olympics was only a small fraction of the impressive things he managed to achieve throughout his life, and maybe due to time/money some scenes had to be cut out. Nevertheless, I look forward to a directors cut.
The main issue Unbroken may come up against is this. Louis Zamperini's life was so extraordinary, and he survived some of the most unimaginable experiences that he appears to be a superhero. Because of this it is easy to forget everything that happens within the film is based on true life events. Jolie has spoken about certain real life events such as Zamperini punching a shark to death whilst on the raft and his one-to-one meeting with Adolf Hitler at the Olympics (Hitler himself wanted to personally meet Louis) that had to be cut from the script as they were too 'unbelievable'.
The ending sequence explicitly reminds the audience of real-life origins of the film that acts as an emotional reflective device and hones down the films messages of the human spirit and forgiveness.
And that Louis Zamperini's life can be an example for us all.
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