Sunday 15 February 2015

Unbroken


Unbroken is the second feature from director, Angelina Jolie. Not having seen her debut feature (In the Land of Blood and Honey), I can not attest to any sense of transition or appropriation of style between projects. What I can tell you is Unbroken is a triumph! Seemingly at ease with every facet of film-making, Jolie has orchestrated a long gestating project, destined for the big screen.

This true-life tale has been adapted from the book of the same name and recounts the early life of Louis Zamperini. Beginning at home (California), Zamperini is inspired by his brother to make something of himself - putting his misadventures to rest, for fear it will land him in hot water. Following in his brothers footsteps, Louis decides to run long distance, competitively. Becoming the fastest under-graduate in the country, it's not long before the Olympic Games beckon.
Appearing at the Games in Berlin of 1936, Zamperini runs faster than his nations competitors and crosses the line in 8th place - setting a record for the fastest lap in the 5000 meter race!
With this superb achievement in place, Zamperini sets his sights on the Games of 1940, scheduled to be held in Japan. World War 2 engulfs the globe however, dashing many a dream (to say the very least).

Zamperini enlists and finds himself a bombardier on board a B-24 Liberator. Having lived through various combatant missions, Zamperinis luck runs out on a rescue mission. The story of Unbroken kicks into high-gear at this point, as we bare witness to a survival tale like no other.

Like the best story-tellers, Jolie understands the less is more conceit. There's plenty of effects work and awe-inspiring photography in Unbroken, but it all services the story.
The film has been accused of struggling to make the unbelievable, believable. With it's messages of resilience and redemption, Unbroken would indeed make for an awfully convenient fictional story. This story is real however, brought to us as a feature-film rather than a documentary. With this in mind, one has to allow for any and all creative nuances a collaborative team brings to a project like this.
In some instances the truth has been skewed so as to appear more believable. Zamperinis meet with Adolf Hitler at the Olympic Games has been extracted, for example. He also punched a shark that approached him in the ocean. Fearing a cynical audience perhaps, Jolie has her Louis merely kick a shark by accident.
The only real moment of posturing to emerge is that of the very young Zamperini. Liquor swilling and cigarette smoking, the 12 year old Louis is old beyond his years, uttering lines like,"I'm nothing. Just let me be nothin". Hey, perhaps he did utter such a line. Like the shark sequence, it could've gone one of two ways - the film-makers privilege ultimately.

Written by the Coen brothers and executive produced by Mick Garris (Zamperinis son in-law), the team behind Unbroken clearly share a great deal of love and respect for the material and Zamperini himself. It's an inspiring tale of survival. It shows us all what true hardship really is and it propels a deep affection for life to the fore.

Proving that life can be just as easily taken from us as it can be granted, Unbroken emphasizes the fragile nature of this gift, leaving us with a very clear caveat: one must grasp this life and make the very best they can with it.

4/5


Poster image courtesy: www.dailyreview.crikey.com.au