Louis Zamperini’s story is so incredible it doesn’t need a hyped approach. And thankfully, “Unbroken” plays it straight and old-fashioned, as befits its determined central character.
Zamperini, who died at age 97 in July, had his experiences chronicled in Laura Hillenbrand’s bestseller of the same title. An Olympic runner (at the Berlin games of 1936), he became a bombardier on a B-24 in the Pacific during the Second World War.
A crash landing at sea leads to a survival story that would make a tense movie all by itself, complete with life rafts, enemy strafing, and sharks. But there’s more, as survival results in an even ghastlier part of the tale.
The film is directed by Angelina Jolie, who turns in a solid, muscular job of storytelling. Early on, some flashbacks to Louie’s boyhood make for a conventional opening, but once the movie shifts to the Pacific, it becomes a kind of endurance test for its spirited hero.
Zamperini is played by Jack O’Connell, an English-born actor who popped up in “300: Rise of an Empire.” He’s steadfast in the role, but with just enough spark to set his character apart as someone special.
Jolie was wise to cast lesser-known actors, because we’re not distracted by star turns or offscreen baggage. Also good are Domhnall Gleeson, Finn Wittrock, and Jai Courtney as Louie’s B-24 buddies; you could almost believe they stepped right out of a 1943 movie.
A much eerier performance comes from the Japanese singer known as Miyavi, who plays a POW camp commandant nicknamed “the Bird.” This kind of thing could easily be a one-note illustration of brutality, but Miyavi makes it truly unsettling. (Whether intentional or not, the film’s depiction of the torture of prisoners arrives at an interesting moment in U.S. history.)
“Unbroken” is beautifully shot by the great Roger Deakins, who might finally win the cinematography Oscar for this one — after 11 nominations. With a screenplay credited to the Coen brothers, Richard LaGravenese, and William Nicholson — all top-shelf writers — this is also a literate film.
It’s being sold as an inspirational movie, and it certainly is, although Jolie does her best to keep the action from becoming syrupy. There might have been a temptation to lighten things up with a girlfriend back on the home front or some other break from Zamperini’s ordeal, but the film sticks to its grim core.
By necessity, the movie adaptation must leave out a lot of the background provided in Hillenbrand’s book. That leaves the focus on one man’s journey, told without adornment. It’s a journey you won’t soon forget.
“Unbroken” (3 1/2 stars)
A strong adaptation of the nonfiction bestseller about Louis Zamperini (Jack O’Connell), the Olympic runner whose harrowing WWII experiences (beginning with a crash landing of his B-24 in the Pacific) were an incredible test of survival. Director Angelina Jolie doesn’t hype the material, trusting that a straightforward approach serves this story well — which it does.
Rating: PG-13, for violence, subject matter
Showing: Marysville, Everett Stadium, Alderwood Mall, Cinebarre Mountlake Terrace, Woodinville, Stanwood Cinemas, Thornton Place Stadium 14, Sundance Cinemas Seattle, Pacific Place
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