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Films like “Unbroken,” and the Laura Hillenbrand book on which it’s based, capture something we all hope is true about ourselves—that we too are unbreakable. That when faced with horrendous, life-threatening situations, we would respond in similar fashion to Louis Zamperini, finding a new well of courage within ourselves and surviving the unimaginable. It is the resilience of the human spirit that has drawn us to films based on true stories again and again to experience pain and triumph in the relative comfort of a movie theater seat.

“Unbroken” opens with a powerfully staged and shot sequence of aerial combat that surprisingly defines the film's strengths and weaknesses over the next two-plus hours. The attention to detail as Zamperini (Jack O’Connell), Russell ‘Phil’ Phillips ( Domhnall Gleeson ) and Hugh ‘Cup’ Cuppernell (Jai Courtney) spin their plane around and take aim at the enemy feels accurate. There’s a weight to the gunfire and a fragility to the aircraft itself that conveys that these people were always a more-accurate gunsight away from tragedy. And yet there’s something wrong here too. The sunset on the horizon looks like a painting. The clouds are perfectly placed for visual impact. The little drop of blood on Zamperini’s forehead can’t hide his movie star looks or movie star make-up. Everything feels accurate in its staging, and yet also not quite genuine. It's Hollywood, old-fashioned movie accurate. And despite O’Connell’s instant charisma (the guy is going to be a MASSIVE star), this feeling never leaves “Unbroken”—the sense that we’re watching human suffering that looks too pretty and too refined to convey its intended impact.

Louis Zamperini should have become a household name for his athletic ability. The “Torrance Tornado” was a US Olympic athlete whose career was cut short when he joined World War II as a bombardier. Even in country, Zamperini is seen training, pushing himself right at the moment that most people would give up. He is the kind of runner who hangs back, and only makes his move when everyone has reached the point of exhaustion. Of course, this is a character trait that will serve him well during the nightmare he’s about to endure.

Zamperini and two other men, including Phil, survive a plane crash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They barely make it long enough to board a raft, where the conditions of hunger, dehydration and heat exhaustion take their toll. These scenes are remarkably well-staged and executed by director Angelina Jolie and her team. They’re the best in the film, the moments in which we can feel Zamperini’s increasing desperation and likely death. They have a focus, fragility and purpose that the second half of the film lacks.

That begins when Zamperini is captured after 47 days adrift, and forced into horrific conditions and hard labor in Japanese Prisoner of War camps. Here, Jolie simply fails to convey the danger and what’s truly at stake. “Unbroken” starts to go through the motions of history recreation instead of real character drama, and while I have loved Roger Deakins ’ work in the past, it’s too “pretty” here, covering every shot in that vague beige of WWII memory, which never allows us to put ourselves in Zamperini’s speedy shoes. If we can’t feel the urgency of his plight, we won’t have the same emotional response to it as we would with more blood, more dirt, and just more danger. It becomes something we watch instead of something we experience. There's a difference.

The relative disappointment of “Unbroken” has nothing to do with Jack O’Connell, a truly gifted actor who has emerged as a fully-formed movie star with this, his even better work in “ Starred Up ,” and next year’s great “’71.” He may not be a household name yet. He will be. In fact, he’s so good that one wishes Jolie asked more of him. Gleeson also deserves praise for taking a smaller role and making it memorable. He too is an actor really worth watching. “Unbroken” could be a film that we look back on as an early entry in the careers of major stars.

Because the disappointing thing is we won’t really look back at the film itself on its own merits. It’s one of those inspirational Hollywood dramas about which there isn’t anything "overtly wrong" with it. It’s well-cast, it looks great, it has that intense centerpiece in the raft, and it certainly conveys a true story worth telling. And yet I keep coming back to that beautiful sunrise that opens the film. It’s just too damn pretty.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Unbroken (2014)

Rated PG-13 for war violence including intense sequences of brutality, and for brief language

137 minutes

Jack O'Connell as Louis Zamperini

Takamasa Ishihara as Mutsuhiro 'The Bird' Watanabe

Garrett Hedlund as John Fitzgerald

Jai Courtney as Hugh 'Cup' Cuppernell

Domhnall Gleeson as Russel Allen 'Phil' Phillips

Finn Wittrock as Francis 'Mac' McNamara

John Magaro as Frank A. Tinker

Alex Russell as Pete Zamperini

Luke Treadaway as Miller

• Angelina Jolie
• Richard Lagravenese
• William Nicholson

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• Roger Deakins

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Movie Review: ‘Unbroken’

The times critic manohla dargis reviews “unbroken.”.

By Manohla Dargis

• Dec. 24, 2014

Angelina Jolie opens “Unbroken” with a shot of a celestial blue sky that soon darkens with a battle scene so tense and fluidly choreographed that you quickly sense that, as a director, she leans closer to hell than heaven. She has given herself plenty to work with: The movie takes a slice out of the life of Louis Zamperini, the Olympic runner turned World War II bombardier who, after surviving a plane crash and 47 days adrift on the Pacific, was fished out of the water by a Japanese patrol boat and then imprisoned in camps where he was brutalized for years. His is one of those stories that has come to define the Greatest Generation.

That story, in its human reach and cosmic scale, in its different permutations and theaters of war, has been recounted in memoirs, novels, fiction films and all too painfully true documentaries. It emerges again in Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 best seller, “ Unbroken : A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption,” which is the basis for the movie. With some narrative rejigging, a lot of compression and one significant exception, Ms. Jolie follows the lead of the book, which focuses on the first 25 years or so of Mr. Zamperini’s life. She also sweeps through his early education as a peewee gangster, truculent son of Italian immigrants and accidental athlete who discovers he can run like the wind, but she gets to the war sooner.

Ms. Jolie is a fast worker. After her inaugural nod at the wide blue yonder, she thrusts you inside the claustrophobic confines of a B-24 bomber that’s soon under Japanese attack. There, the adult Louie, as he was called, bounces through the plane while bullets begin shredding its exterior and soon its occupants, the fusillade opening little circles of light in the hull as effortlessly as a pencil punches holes in paper. It’s a shrewd opener, because it immediately puts you on notice in regard to the story’s life-and-death stakes and draws you close to Louie (the appealing Jack O’Connell). Mr. Zamperini was a distance runner , but here he’s a sprinter whose quicksilver movements — he crouches and scuttles while tending the wounded plane and men — suck you in with gravitational force.

Louie’s life moves so rapidly here that about 30 minutes after the movie’s start, he’s running laps at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. There, he catches a glimpse of Jesse Owens and gawps at the cheering crowds and bloated Nazi spectacle, which Ms. Jolie conveys with digital effects and a touch of Leni Riefenstahl pomp-and-creepiness. Then Louie’s off to the races, and we’re off to something of a narrative cheat. He scores mightily on the track — with a rabbity final sprint — but Ms. Jolie pumps the inspirational uplift so high that with all the soaring music, swirling camerawork, excited commentary and slow-motion shots of Louie’s straining and gasping you may not realize he didn’t win any Olympic medals.

That Mr. Zamperini didn’t win that day doesn’t lessen his accomplishments on or off the track, of course, or make his story any less touching. Being an Olympian is a triumph in and of itself, yet that truism doesn’t seem to have been grand enough for Ms. Jolie’s purposes. The Olympic interlude is sandwiched between some wartime scenes, right after the plane that Louie’s on starts to malfunction and just before it falls into the Pacific. The placement of his Olympic experience suggests that Louie’s life is flashing before him or that he’s drawing strength from a memory. But the triumphalism of the race is so excessive that it competes with, rather than complements, the war scenes and ends up being another clip in what increasingly will feel like one man’s extended highlight reel.

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Angelina Jolie’s World War II–Set Unbroken Is a Tribute to Manly Perseverance

The best reason to see Angelina Jolie’s more-than-decent film adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken  — the story of Louis Zamperini’s grueling odyssey adrift on a lifeboat in the South Pacific and in several Japanese prisoner-of-war camps — is to experience torture from the side of the tortured, to feel vicariously what it’s like when an enemy has absolute power over your life and death. (Needless to say, I don’t mean to imply a connection between this and the House of Representatives’ recent “torture report,” which is obviously a partisan effort to make a few bad apples stand for the CIA under the rigorously ethical Bush-Cheney administration. Perish the thought.) At its essence, Unbroken is a tribute to manly perseverance, its message so nice, it’s stated twice: “If you can take it, you can make it.” Taking the film is no walk in the park, either.

The young British actor Jack O’Connell is Zamperini, whom we meet aiming bombs while his plane-mates do battle with a swarm of Japanese Zeroes. Things are soon dire — which is Jolie’s cue throughout the film to move in on Louis’s face as he recalls symbolic moments in his life. Among them: being bullied by kids who call him a “Dago.” His episodes of juvenile delinquency. His beginnings as a runner under the training of his older brother, who gives him the “if you can take it, you can make it” maxim. His trip to the Berlin Olympics in 1932. But the bulk of Unbroken is present tense with a vengeance. Zamperini spends more than 40 ghastly days on a life raft with two other airmen (played by Domhnall Gleason and Finn Wittrock), and his “rescue” leads somewhere arguably worse: to a prison-camp commander known as “the Bird” whose mission in life becomes to take the American Olympian and break him.

From the time Zamperini’s plane hits the water, the movie is one blow after another after another after another a hundred times more. Possibly I’m undercounting. The soldiers are so skeletal that it’s difficult to look at them, and, in one late scene, the Bird forces scores of American and English prisoners to line up and punch Zamperini in the face. Unbelievably, it gets even worse after that. Jolie is actually restrained compared to Hillenbrand, who — as she proved in her unusually graphic Seabiscuit and even more so in Unbroken  — is a glutton for her subjects’ punishment. But the film is still relentlessly one thing , its message (aside from “If you can take it, you can make it”) a mixture of Rocky Balboa and Christ: To remain standing when your persecutor has devastated you physically and emotionally is the best revenge, and you should forgive rather than retaliate in kind. Speaking personally, I couldn’t agree more. But the movie’s more powerful takeaway is that girly men with daddy issues should not hold positions of power.

As the Bird, Jolie has cast the Japanese glam-rocker known as Miyavi (real name: Takamasa Ishihara) and directed him to bat his lashes and gaze on Zamperini with a mixture of rage and longing. A British officer fills out the Bird’s biography — wealthy childhood, militaristic family, deemed unfit for combat — before adding, “None of this explains his erratic behavior.” No, his erratic behavior reads like Sexual Perversity in Tokyo. The homoeroticism is, as they say, “a choice,” but it’s possible that it throws Unbroken out of whack.

There is plenty whack left, of course, though much of it feels secondhand. Jolie’s last film, In the Land of Blood and Honey , had more evident passion (it centered on a sadomasochistic relationship between a Serbian officer and Bosnian woman); this one often feels like rewarmed Spielberg. The opening shot of American planes drifting out of a sunrise is gorgeous but obviously computer-generated, and many of the images are self-consciously iconic. The script — credited to the tag team of William Nicholson, Richard LaGravenese, and Joel and Ethan Coen — is a little on the nose for my taste, short on the kind of stray narrative curlicues that give movies some extra texture. And does Jolie get all she can out of O’Connell, who was riveting in this year’s prison drama Starred Up ? You’ll largely remember him here for his cheekbones and ability to take a punch.

Still, Jolie gets the dirty/ennobling job done. If the narrative is finally unsatisfying, it’s because the last vital chapter — the way in which Zamperini was able to have a life after years of unspeakable cruelty and the dashing of his Olympic hopes — is signaled in a couple of title cards before the closing credits. Unbroken proves that Zamperini could take it and make it — but make what of it?

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Metacritic reviews

• 80 Total Film Total Film Jack O’Connell’s, wiry, indefatigable Zamperini holds your attention without effort.
• 77 TheWrap Alonso Duralde TheWrap Alonso Duralde Ultimately, the strengths of Unbroken far outweigh its flaws.
• 75 IndieWire Eric Kohn IndieWire Eric Kohn Jolie keeps the narrative afloat thanks to first-rate craftsmanship, a few well-honed moments of bonafide suspense, and a terrifically restrained Jack O'Connell in the lead role. While it only hints at the sweeping epic that never fully materializes, Unbroken offers further proof that Jolie's directorial instincts pass muster alongside her other talents.
• 70 The Hollywood Reporter Todd McCarthy The Hollywood Reporter Todd McCarthy A great true story is telescoped down to a merely good one in Unbroken. After a dynamite first half-hour, Angelina Jolie's accomplished second outing as a director slowly looses steam.
• 67 Hitfix Drew McWeeny Hitfix Drew McWeeny When it comes to this particular story, I find myself unconvinced in the end. Unbroken looks like the real thing, but evaporates upon closer scrutiny.
• 60 The Guardian Andrew Pulver The Guardian Andrew Pulver Though high-minded and well-intentioned – as well as being conceived on an epic scale – there’s something faintly stodgy and safety-first about the endeavour.
• 60 Empire Ian Nathan Empire Ian Nathan Lavish and sporadically powerful, Jolie's POW biopic may have just enough gravity to entice the Academy, but struggles to bring truth to an unbelievable truth.
• 60 Time Out London Cath Clarke Time Out London Cath Clarke Jolie has assembled an A-list team – Roger Deakins behind the camera, the Coen brothers in charge of the script - but while her film is perfectly competent, it hardly dazzles.
• 50 Variety Justin Chang Variety Justin Chang A bit embalmed in its own nobility, it’s an extraordinary story told in dutiful, unexceptional terms, the passionate commitment of all involved rarely achieving gut-level impact.
• 40 The Telegraph Tim Robey The Telegraph Tim Robey The film settles into a Forrest Gumpian groove that doesn’t glorify the human spirit so much as sap it.
• See all 48 reviews on Metacritic.com
• See all external reviews for Unbroken

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Andhagan X Review: Prashanth And Simran Starrer Promises Thrills And Twists In A Gripping Crime Drama

Andhagan X Review: Andhagan is a Tamil crime thriller directed by Thiagarajan, who co-wrote the screenplay with Pattukkottai Prabakar, and produced by Staar Movies. The film features Prashanth in the lead role, with an ensemble cast including Simran, Priya Anand, Karthik, Samuthirakani, Urvashi, Yogi Babu, K. S. Ravikumar, Vanitha Vijayakumar, and Manobala. A remake of the 2018 Hindi film Andhadhun, the story revolves around a blind pianist who unknowingly becomes involved in a murder.

#Andhagan is releasing today. Best wishes to the team @actorprashanth , @actorthiagaraja , and @PriyaAnand 🙌 pic.twitter.com/iRzTxRDXIk — Rajasekar (@sekartweets) August 9, 2024

In 2019, Thiagarajan acquired the remake rights for Andhadhun, with Mohan Raja initially set to direct the project in 2020. However, Raja departed, and J.J. Fredrick briefly took over before Thiagarajan assumed directorial duties. Principal photography began in March 2021, primarily in Chennai, and concluded in November 2022. The film's music is composed by Santhosh Narayanan, with Ravi Yadav as the cinematographer and Sathish Suriya handling the editing.

#Andhagan is a commendable effort that successfully recreates the thrills and chills of #Andhadhun while adding its own touch. Prashanths performance is Top👌🔥 The suspenseful plot make it a must-watch! pic.twitter.com/npNoDktBWY — TubeLight ❣️ (@Blink_Blng) August 9, 2024

Andhagan was released in theatres on August 9, 2024, after facing production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Andhagan Cast

The cast of Andhagan features Prashanth as Krish, Simran as Simi, and Priya Anand as Julie. The ensemble also includes Karthik as the actor, Samuthirakani as Manohar, and Urvashi as Sarasu. Yogi Babu plays Murali, K. S. Ravikumar appears as Dr. Sami, and Vanitha Vijayakumar takes on the role of Revolver Lalitha. Other key roles include Manobala as Bala, Leela Samson as D'Susa, Lakshmi Pradeep as Sanjana, Poovaiyar as Kappes, Semmalar Annam as Rasi, Mohan Vaidya as the music store owner, and Besant Ravi as the hunter.

Andhagan Crew

Andhagan was directed by Thiagarajan, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Pattukkottai Prabakar, based on the Hindi film Andhadhun by Sriram Raghavan. The film was produced by Shanthi Thiagarajan and Preethi Thiagarajan under the banner of Staar Movies, with distribution handled by V Creations. The cinematography was by Ravi Yadav, the editing was by Sathish Suriya, and the music was composed by Santhosh Narayanan.

The release of "Andhagan" is highly anticipated, promising an extraordinary cinematic experience for all film enthusiasts. Stay tuned for insightful X (formerly Twitter) reviews as audiences share their thoughts on this crime thriller film.

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Andhagan Review : மீண்டும் டாப் ஸ்டாராக கம்பேக் கொடுத்தாரா பிரசாந்த்? அந்தகன் படத்தின் விமர்சனம் இதோ

தியாகராஜன் இயக்கத்தில் பிரசாந்த் ஹீரோவாக நடித்துள்ள அந்தகன் திரைப்படம் இன்று திரையரங்குகளில் ரிலீஸ் ஆகி உள்ள நிலையில், அதன் விமர்சனத்தை பார்க்கலாம்.

டாப் ஸ்டார் பிரசாந்த் நீண்ட இடைவெளிக்கு பின்னர் ஹீரோவாக நடித்துள்ள திரைப்படம் அந்தகன். இப்படத்தை அவரின் தந்தை தியாகராஜன் இயக்கி உள்ளார். இப்படத்தில் பிரசாந்த் உடன் பிரியா ஆனந்த், சிம்ரன், வனிதா விஜயகுமார், கே.எஸ்.ரவிக்குமார், யோகிபாபு, சமுத்திரக்கனி, நவரச நாயகன் கார்த்திக் என மிகப்பெரிய நட்சத்திர பட்டாளமே நடித்துள்ளது. அந்தகன் படத்திற்கு சந்தோஷ் நாராயணன் இசையமைத்து உள்ளார்.

பாலிவுட்டில் ஆயுஷ்மான் குரானா நடிப்பில் வெளியாகி பிளாக்பஸ்டர் ஹிட்டான அந்தாதூண் திரைப்படத்தின் தமிழ் ரீமேக் தான் இந்த அந்தகன் திரைப்படம். ஸ்ரீராம் ராகவன் என்பவர் தான் இந்தியில் இப்படத்தை இயக்கி இருந்தார். இப்படம் பாலிவுட்டில் சக்கைப்போடு போட்டதோடு, இப்படத்திற்கு சிறந்த திரைக்கதை, சிறந்த படம், சிறந்த நடிகர் ஆகிய மூன்று தேசிய விருதுகளையும் வென்று அசத்தியது.

இதையும் படியுங்கள்...  அந்தகன் முதல் மின்மினி வரை.. இந்த வாரம் தியேட்டர் மற்றும் OTT ரிலீசுக்காக வரிசைகட்டி நிற்கும் படங்களின் லிஸ்ட்

இப்படத்தின் கதையை பொறுத்தவரை, பார்வையற்றவராக இருக்கும் படத்தின் நாயகன் எப்படியாவது லண்டன் சென்று மிகப் பெரிய பியானோ கலைஞனாக வேண்டும் என ஆசைப்படுகிறார். அதற்கு ஏற்றார் போல ஒரு விபத்தின் மூலம் அவருக்கு காதலி கிடைக்கிறாள். காதலி வந்த பின் அவரது வாழ்வில் நடக்கக்கூடிய அடுத்தடுத்த சம்பவங்கள் தான் படமே. சிம்பிளான கதையாக இருந்தாலும் அதை தன்னுடைய விறுவிறுப்பான திரைக்கதையால் பிரம்மிப்பூட்டி இருந்தார் ஸ்ரீராம் ராகவன். அதே பிரம்மிப்பை தமிழிலும் ஏற்படுத்தினார்களா என்பதை பொறுத்திருந்து பார்ப்போம். அந்தகன் படம் பார்த்த ரசிகர்கள் எக்ஸ் தளத்தில் தங்கள் விமர்சனத்தை பதிவிட்டு வருகின்றனர். அதன் தொகுப்பை பார்க்கலாம்.

அந்தகன் அந்தாதூன் படத்தோட சிறந்த ரீமேக்கா இருக்கு. பிரசாந்த் சாரிமிங்காக இருக்கிறார், சிறப்பாகவும் நடித்திருக்கிறார். சிம்ரன் பர்பார்மன்ஸ் செம்ம. சந்தோஷ் நாராயணன் தான் படத்தோட ரெண்டாவது ஹீரோ என பதிவிட்டுள்ளார்.

அந்தாதூன் படம் பார்க்கும்போது கிடைத்த திகில் மற்றும் இனிமையான தருணங்களை அந்தகன் படத்திலும் வெற்றிகரமாக கொடுத்துள்ளனர். பிரசாந்தின் நடிப்பு டாப் கிளாஸ். சஸ்பென்ஸ் நிறைந்த கதைக்களம் என்பதால் கண்டிப்பாக பார்க்கலாம் என குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.

அந்தகன் படம் மெரிட்டில் பாஸ் பண்ணி இருக்கிறது. இது ரீமேக் படமாக இருந்தாலும் தமிழ் ஆடியன்ஸுக்கு தேவையானவற்றையும் சேர்த்து கொடுத்துள்ளனர். பிரசாந்தின் நடிப்பு அருமை வாழ்த்துக்கள் என பாராட்டி பதிவிட்டுள்ளார்.

துவண்டு போய் கிடந்த தமிழ் சினிமாவை காப்பாற்ற அந்தகன் வந்துவிட்டதாக நெட்டிசன் ஒருவர் பதிவிட்டுள்ளார்.

இதையும் படியுங்கள்...  நாக சைதன்யா - ஷோபிதா நிச்சயதார்த்த நாளில்... சமந்தாவின் இதயம் நொறுங்கும் இமோஜியுடன் போட்ட பதிவு!

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Unbroken Review

But who was this hero.

Four top-notch writers worked on Unbroken — Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravensese, and William Nicholson — and Jolie's direction is competent and blockbustery. But no one involved cracked the strong-willed Zamperini, making for a stodgy, life-affirming biopic. When Jolie says jump, Jack O'Connell asks how high, giving Unbroken the silver lining of introducing mass audiences to this formidable talent. Like Zamperini, who became a motivational speaker in his later years, Unbroken explains the events and expects us to react. How Zamperini persevered — whether it be self-motivation, the encouragement of others, or the touch of God himself — remains Unsolved.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Intense WWII biopic is inspiring but doesn't go deep enough.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The main character's intense determination helps h

Zamperini managed to survive 47 days stranded at s

Plenty of war-related violence. Early scenes show

Non-sexual nudity includes a scene in which prison

Brief profanity includes a partial "f--k," "s--t,"

A teen boy takes swigs from liquor disguised in mi

Parents need to know that Unbroken is Angelina Jolie's affecting, inspiring biopic about Louis Zamperini (Jack O'Connell), an Olympic athlete who finds himself tested all sorts of ways during World War II, culminating in a two-year stint in a Japanese prison camp. As expected based on the source material (the…

Positive Messages

The main character's intense determination helps him make it to the Olympics and, later, to survive as a POW, despite unbearably horrible circumstances. This is definitely a story about perseverance and triumph in the face of adversity.

Positive Role Models

Zamperini managed to survive 47 days stranded at sea and then two years in a Japanese POW camp because of his grit, resilience, and unbreakable will. Other characters are shown deteriorating, both physically and mentally.

Violence & Scariness

Plenty of war-related violence. Early scenes show aerial combat, with planes and crewmen getting shot up and exploding. Then a trio of men is lost at sea in a small raft, struggling to survive; they take on sharks with their bare hands. The last act takes place in a Japanese POW camp run by a brutal sadist. The prisoners are beaten with sticks, threatened with swords, given meager rations, and forced into slave labor. They're also forced to undress; their bare bottoms are shown, and they cover their genitals with their hands.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Non-sexual nudity includes a scene in which prisoners are forced to undress, and viewers see their bare bottoms.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Brief profanity includes a partial "f--k," "s--t," "damn," and "ass."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A teen boy takes swigs from liquor disguised in milk bottles. Some characters smoke cigarettes (accurate for the era). Adult soldiers drink beer.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Unbroken is Angelina Jolie 's affecting, inspiring biopic about Louis Zamperini ( Jack O'Connell ), an Olympic athlete who finds himself tested all sorts of ways during World War II, culminating in a two-year stint in a Japanese prison camp. As expected based on the source material (the script was adapted from Laura Hillenbrand's book about Zamperini's life), there are plenty of scenes showing torturous abuse, including beatings, verbal harangues, and psychological attacks; some of it is quite difficult to watch. Aerial combat footage includes explosions, and Zamperini's time adrift on the ocean is also intense; at one point, he and his boatmates take on sharks with their bare hands. Language is infrequent and mild, but some early scenes portray a teenager smoking and drinking. Families may want to check out Hillenbrand's young adult adaptation of her bestselling book. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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• Parents say (9)
• Kids say (44)

Based on 9 parent reviews

Certainly not a feel good movie, but worth the watch.

What's the story.

Based on Lauren Hillenbrand's same-named book, UNBROKEN tells the true story of Louis Zamperini ( Jack O'Connel l), an Olympic athlete who impressed the world in the 1936 Olympics by running the final lap of the 5,000-meter event in a blazing 56 seconds. And later, after surviving 47 days adrift in the Pacific after a plane crash, he became a POW in Japan for two years. Remarkable and resilient, Zamperini survives the meanest challenges of life, including being stranded on a raft with two other crewmen, only to be picked up by a Japanese naval ship and spirited behind enemy lines, where he's beaten and tortured.

Is It Any Good?

This movie will undoubtedly leave audiences with nothing but admiration for the strong, noble Zamperini, and for this alone, it's worth watching. It's also notable for its lush cinematography and disciplined storytelling, which doesn't rely overly on swelling music and other tricks to make audiences feel with a capital F.

But for a film that does so much, Unbroken still falls short in some aspects. A footnote at the end hints at incomparable kindness that Zamperini bestowed upon his enemies, and yet this is told in words rather than images. It's a pity. And though it's clear Zamperini survives partly by holding on to the lessons his brother gave him -- words that echo through his head and that the audience hears -- it feels like there's much more depth to him that's left unexplored. And what of his pain? The film hints that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder of some kind; completely understandable, given the circumstances, but nothing makes a man even more unbroken than to have survived all so much while still maintaining the measure of grace that historians said Zamperini had -- but that's not quite reflected here. We would have loved to have seen the whole story.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Unbroken 's violent scenes. How do the prison camp abuse scenes make you feel? Did they need to be included so audiences could understand what Zamperini went through? How do they compare to the scenes of aerial combat and of the men adrift in the ocean? Which had the most impact on you, and why?

How does battle affect people? Do you think movies and TV shows depict it realistically? What are the consequences?

What do you think kept Zamperini persevering , despite all the challenges he faced? How is he a role model ? Do you think the film portrays him accurately?

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 25, 2014
• On DVD or streaming : March 24, 2015
• Cast : Jack O'Connell , Domhnall Gleeson , Jai Courtney
• Director : Angelina Jolie
• Inclusion Information : Female directors
• Studio : Universal Pictures
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : History
• Character Strengths : Perseverance
• Run time : 137 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : war violence including intense sequences of brutality, and for brief language
• Last updated : May 15, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Unbroken (2014) Review

UNBOWED, UNBENT, UNBROKEN

Through the years of moviemaking, Hollywood has produced a good number of dramatized wartime features with a hefty portion focusing on the trials and tribulations in the World War II era. These films, albeit dramatized to certain degree, carry a certain prestige and alluring appeal in their nature whether through history, diversity, hardships, combat fighting, or warring nations. Some of these features have even become iconic classics including Patton (1970), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Dirty Dozen (1967), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), and Flags of Our Fathers (2006) just to name a few. Now Universal Pictures and actor / director Angelina Jolie presents the story of WWII veteran Louie Zamperini through the cinematic lens of Hollywood with the film Unbroken . Does this wartime drama reach critical acclaim within its genre or is it another generic run-of-the-mill WWII feature?

As a child in the 1920s, Louie Zamperini (Jack O’Connell) was subjected to bullying and ridiculed for his Italian immigrant heritage amongst his peers, creating a troublesome boy that lacked self-discipline and guidance. With his brother’s help, Louie discovers his passion for track running, miraculously transforming the wayward youth into an elite runner that participated in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Eventually, with the outbreak of WWII arriving shortly after, Louie’s track running days are cut short, enlisting in the Air Force and bonding with his fellow airmen crew such as Phil (Domhnail Gleason), Hugh (Jai Courtney), and Mac (Finn Wittrock) before a fatal plane crash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Set adrift in a life raft, Louie perseveres through this atrocious trail, sustaining his hunger to live and his refusal to succumb to the elemental laws of the ocean. Louie is eventually rescued, but by the Japanese, who, in turn, imprisoned him in work camp with the sadistic officer Wantanbe (Takamasa Ishihara), nicknamed “The Bird”, making his pleasurable duties to break Louie’s spirit.

THE GOOD  / THE BAD

This compelling true story derives from Laura Hillenbrand’s book “ Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption” . The book, which was published back in 2010, has gone on to receive many literary awards and an unwavering acclaim from fans and critics alike. Given the book’s success, it was a foregone conclusion that Zamperini’s story would eventually become a feature film in the foreseeable future. Returning to the director’s chair to helm this heroic tale is actress Angelina Jolie. Jolie, who directed the 2011 film In the Land of Blood and Honey , brings with her a talented group of her writers including the Coen brothers (Joel & Ethan), Richard LaGravenese, and William Nicholson to help shape the story around this dramatic narrative. To their credit, they do, offering a film that as powerful as it is moving, but not to it’s fully extent with some bumps in the road.

Unbroken opens with a WWII salvo, dropping viewers into an aerial dogfight with Louie and his airmen bomber crew in enemy territory. It’s a thrilling scene with Louie maneuvering through the plane, watching crew members get hurt or perish and frantic gunfire from Japanese fighters zooming by him and his mates. It’s more interesting that this scene (as well as another similar scene down the road) are spliced, interjecting flashback sequences from Louie’s past as a troubled youth and then as a track runner during the Olympic Games. Could they’ve spent more time in the flashback scenes? I say yes (fleshing them out a little more), but the film does a good job mirroring both action and story points well in Unbroken’s first thirty minutes.

Things slow down considerably, however, when Zamperini and two of his surviving crewmen are set aimlessly adrift in the Pacific Ocean. True, it’s an important scene with the airmen meandering through perils of shark infested waters, dodging enemy fire, and the pain of starvation / cabin fever. Although, with the film’s running time of nearing two hours and twenty minutes long, this particular scene should’ve been reduced down slightly, devoting more time elsewhere in the feature or simply shortened the film’s duration. Things do pick up when Louie enters the POW camp, incurring the wrath of Japanese officer Wantanbe (The Bird) as he tortures Zamperini through public humiliation and physical beatings. The violent acts of punishment during these scenes are brutal to watch with Jolie and her team more fixated on showing Wantabe’s brutality towards the Olympic athlete rather than the characterization of other POWs that are swiftly introduced and come off as forgetful.

Relative newcomer Jack O’Connell leaves his mark on the picture with as Unbroken’s main protagonist Louie Zamperini. His acting is good and brings the emotional weight to the character, but his physical endurance and overall transformation in the movie is both miraculous and remarkable. Opposite O’Connell is Takamasa Ishihara as cruel officer Wantanbe. His role in the feature is to be the antagonist and a great one at that with his mostly calm demeanor and his sadistic treatment towards Louie. The only other character that makes a lasting impression is Domhnail Gleason as Phil, one of the bomber crewmen who survived the fatal plane crash and set adrift at sea with Louie. Other actors like Jai Courtney who plays Hugh Cuppernell (another one of Louie’s bomber crew airmen) and Garett Hedlund as John Fitzgerald (a high ranking POW officer Louie meets up with) are given minor roles and could’ve possible been expanded upon (especially Hedlund’s role).

The book and the movie’s tagline / poster highlight three very important words: survival, resilience, and redemption. While the movie showcases Louie’s survival through his forty seven day odyssey on a life raft and his resilience to Wantanbe’s cruel punishments as a POW, it never shows his redemption. Louie’s journey of redemption is a key element in the book, representing that, through all his turmoil, pain, and atrocities he faced, the salvation and humanity within himself was redeemed by his religious belief and finding forgiveness in those who tortured him. The movie does mention it slightly, touching briefly on Louie’s life after the war before the end credits, but this hardly does it justice. By doing this, it leaves viewers (at the end of the movie) perplexed with Zamperini’s characterization, more or less, ambiguous. In short, the feature still retaining his determination to survive and indomitable resilience, but lacks the emotional depth of how he redeemed himself after experiencing these horrific events. It’s a decision that’s a true misfire and a disappointment from Jolie and the collective screenplay writers for Unbroken .

As a side note, from a technical and visual standpoint, Unbroken holds its own in its consistency of keeping the feature grand with its sets and locales. Its cinematography is also worth noting with several poignant scenes that heightened dramatic camera angles and the swelling of Alexandre Desplat’s musical score. As a final personal note, I believe that Unbroken should’ve been presented as a mini-series rather than a feature film. By doing this, it would allow the story to breathe, expanding on certain things with characters, places, and events to be express fully and not constricted. HBO, giving their track record of producing great WWII mini-series like Band of Brothers and The Pacific , would’ve been the best choice for Unbroken to be produced under.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Unbroken , Angelina Jolie’s sophomore directorial movie, will have mixed reviews and opinions with some who will love it completely, while others will think it’s simply okay. To me, I fall somewhere in between those two, but more on the positive side. The feature carries and delivers a powerful narrative that’s undeniable awe-inspiring on-screen with remarkable feats, both from its actors and cinematography. What weights this dramatized war feature down is in its failure to fully capture Zamperini’s miraculous life story, most notably in leaving out crucial element in his tale, which leaves film’s narrative incomplete and unable to connect the dots to the man behind the hero. Whether you agree with my review or not about this movie, it’s virtually impossible to not overlook the courageous efforts that the real Louie Zamperini displayed during the course of his life. Louie, who sadly passed away several months ago at the age of ninety seven, will be remembered for generations to come, regarded as a hero of his time and an inspiration to millions everywhere.

4.1 Out of 5 (Recommended)

Released on: december 25th, 2014, reviewed on: january 3rd, 2015.

Unbroken  is 138 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for war violence including intense sequences of brutality, and for brief language

Share this:

Bravo bravo bravo it was a super review. I totally agree with you that there should have been much more in the movtev about the religious redemption of his life .it was a great ending about a super hero.

I like these kinds of films, so I will definitely seek this out. Cheers for the review.

Thanks. Yeah, this movie was pretty good. I liked the book.

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• DVD & Streaming
• Drama , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

• December 25, 2014
• Jack O'Connell as Louis Zamperini; C.J. Valleroy as Young Louis Zamperini; Domhnall Gleeson as Russell Allen 'Phil' Phillips; Finn Wittrock as Francis 'Mac' McNamara; Alex Russell as Pete Zamperini; John D'Leo as Young Pete Zamperini; Vincenzo Amato as Anthony Zamperini; Maddalena Ischiale as Louise Zamperini; Takamasa Ishihara as Mutsushiro 'The Bird' Watanabe

Home Release Date

• March 24, 2015
• Angelina Jolie

Distributor

• Universal Pictures

Movie Review

“If you can take it, you can make it.”

Those words of exhortation come from Louis Zamperini’s older brother, Pete, when the two sons of Italian immigrants are still in high school. But it turns out Louis will need to cling to Pete’s counsel again and again throughout the excruciating trials that soon pile painfully upon him.

Bullies menace Louis in high school, resulting in fights he gets blamed for. It’s a volatile situation, especially when combined with his penchant for smoking and drinking. But Pete’s seen how fast Louis runs from teenage thugs and school administrators, so he encourages his little bro to join the track team … even offering to help him train.

Turns out Louis is fast. Really fast. As in, the fastest high school distance runner in America. Before he knows it, the so-called Torrance Tornado is competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he turns in a record time on the last lap of his race. Louis dreams of competing again in the 1940 Olympics in Tokyo. And he does make it to Tokyo … but hardly how he’d hoped.

World War II scuttles those Games, and Louis winds up as the bombardier on a B-24 Liberator in the Pacific—a plane that earned the nickname of Flying Coffin. That moniker proves prophetic when the engines on Louis’ bomber fail, prompting his friend (and the plane’s pilot) Russell “Phil” Phillips, to ditch it.

Louis, Phil and another airman named Mac are the only survivors. They lash two life rafts together … and begin marking time and praying for rescue as they strive to stave off starvation and sharks. Mac dies 33 days in. Two weeks after that—47 days after crashing in the ocean—Louis and Phil are rescued … by the Japanese.

Their rescue-turned-capture begins a two-year ordeal for Louis (who’s soon separated from Phil) in three different POW camps: one near where they’re captured, another near Tokyo and a third far to the north. In the last two camps, Louis and his fellows must endure not only the degradation of being prisoners of war, but the sadistic cruelty of Mutsushiro Watanabe, a monstrous man the Americans call “The Bird.”

Beaten and humiliated time and again over the course of two years, Louis takes refuge in memories of his mother’s prayers, his friend Phil’s faith and those powerful, guiding words of his older brother:

Positive Elements

Encouraged by Pete, Louis becomes a disciplined runner—discipline that takes him to the Olympics and helps him endure wartime suffering. Pete also tells Louis, “A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory. Remember that.”

After plunging into the Pacific, Louis adopts an optimistic attitude, in contrast to Mac, who cries, “We’re gonna die!” Louis responds, “No we’re not, Mac.” Mac focuses on the worst outcome, while Louis heroically remains positive. Mac dies and Louis lives, and the only difference in their fates is apparently the mental determination Louis exhibits. Indeed, as they drift for a month and a half, Louis continually stimulates his and his companions’ hope and courage.

Still, Louis isn’t made of steel. Early on in his lengthy stay at the Ōmori Detention Camp near Tokyo, he hovers near despondency, saying, “I don’t give a d–n. Let ’em shoot me.” Another American POW counters, “We beat ’em by making it to the end of the war alive. That’s our revenge, officer.” Louis once more recalls his brother’s counsel: “If I can take it, I can make it.”

The Japanese know Louis is famous and attempt to use him for propaganda purposes by coaxing him to read a script on the radio in exchange for posh treatment (a deal some Americans had already taken). Louis refuses, and he’s returned to the general prison population, knowing what awaits.

When the war ends, Louis walks into Watanabe’s empty room. He sees a picture of his tormentor as a boy standing before a stern-looking father, and an expression of perhaps compassion or understanding comes across his face as he seems to ponder how anyone could have become so cruel.

Spiritual Elements

Louis Zamperini is the youngest son of a devout Italian Catholic family. Not that he’s much interested in religion. He drinks, smokes and has an eye for the ladies. But in a moment of peril, he recalls his mother’s prayers (and we see her praying again later in the movie). He and Phil talk about faith and prayer and heaven. And we see Phil pray—taking a bit of ribbing from Louis for it.

Louis cries out to God to rescue him during a massive storm in the Pacific. “If You get me through this,” he pleads, “if you answer my prayers, I swear I’ll dedicate my whole life to You. I’ll do whatever You want. Please!” As the film ends, we’re told that Louis made good on his pledge, becoming a Christian and eventually going back to Japan to meet with his captors (though not Watanabe, who refused) in order to offer forgiveness.

In church, a priest quotes Genesis 1, a discussion that leads to the topic of Jesus’ mission to overcome darkness. He says Christ came “not to wage war on the sins of man, but to forgive them.” Jesus, he says, “smiles on sinners” and helps them “live through the darkness.”

Sexual Content

As mentioned, Louis eyes a pretty young woman in church. He also hides under the bleachers at a track meet, looking up at the backsides of some female classmates. In a conversation about Louis’ best mile time of 4 minutes, 12 seconds, a fellow soldier quips, “I hope you’re not that fast in the sack.” We see a quick glimpse of small pinup-girl pics in an airplane. Soldiers stage a version of Cinderella at Ōmori in which they dress in drag.

Violent Content

Louis’ early run-ins with bullies who hit him foreshadow the awful brutalities he will experience later. In captivity, he is bludgeoned repeatedly with fists, feet and shafts. Watanabe carries a bamboo staff that he uses to throttle Louis and other POWs. Louis’ face and body are bloodied and bruised, and we see so much damage done to him that at times you wonder how anyone could survive such savagery.

As punishment for being “disrespectful,” Watanabe has every prisoner in the camp—hundreds of them—hit Louis in the face. We see and hear perhaps two dozen of those blows in what becomes a brutal, lengthy scene. After a number of hits, Louis isn’t able to stand any more, and Japanese soldiers hold him up for more. (Watanabe threatens to beat another, more severely injured man with his bamboo staff if the POWs refuse to hit Louis. And to his heroic credit, Louis urges his fellow prisoners to do what their captors demand so that no one else would be injured.) Louis is forced to hold a wooden beam on his shoulders for hours; Watanabe tells his men to shoot Louis if he drops it. He doesn’t, which prompts The Bird to beat Louis again. Finally, crumpled and unconscious, Louis is left outside (shirtless) until the next day.

Airmen are shot and bloodied and killed. Planes are blasted out of the sky. Tokyo is bombed, and we see the blanket-covered corpses of civilians lined up in rows. Louis, Phil and Mac’s life rafts are strafed by warplanes and attacked by a shark. The men suffer quite a lot while adrift in the Pacific, their skin painfully blistering. Mac dies, as noted, and his body is lowered into the water. A man carrying a bucket of coal trips and plunges off stairs to his death.

Japanese guards force Louis and Phil to strip naked and kneel. They think they’re about to be executed, but their captors pour water on them instead. (We see quite a lot of their emaciated bodies, including both men’s bare rears.)

Crude or Profane Language

Three s-words. We also hear a half-dozen uses of “d–n” or “d–mit,” and one or two uses each of “a–” and “b–ch.” God’s name is misused two or three times (once paired with “d–n”), and Jesus’ name is abused once. Bullies repeatedly taunt Louis with the racial slurs “dego” and “wop.” Pete throws the former slur at his brother to make him run faster.

Drug and Alcohol Content

As an adolescent, Louis seeks solace in secretly drinking (from bottles painted white to look like milk, hiding the alcohol in them) and smoking. Soldiers smoke cigarettes and cigars; we hear talk of going to a bar, and Louis drinks a beer in a posh Japanese restaurant.

Other Negative Elements

We see that trying to eat a raw albatross results in vomiting for Louis, Phil and Mac. A soldier cleaning excrement from the latrine quips, “For a bunch of guys who don’t eat anything, we sure do s— a lot. I think this one’s mine.”

In one of my high school literature classes, the teacher outlined the general categories of conflicts readers might encounter in stories: man vs. himself, man vs. nature and man vs. the inhumanity of his fellow man. All of those struggles are present in Unbroken , the true story of Louis Zamperini. No sooner does Louis overcome one conflict than he’s plunged into another. And each is worse than the ones that came before.

Yet Louis somehow endures.

Directed by Angelina Jolie and based on Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling 2010 book, Unbroken suggests it’s a combination of Louis’ natural grit, memories of his mother and brother, and, ultimately, a God who cared for him that got him through. While Jolie reined in the violence and foul language enough to secure a PG-13 rating, this is a movie that reminds me a great deal of three other significant, difficult-to-watch historical dramas: Saving Private Ryan , Schindler’s List and 12 Years a Slave . As happens to so many people in those films, Louis endures unimaginable hardship, then emerges from his crucible of suffering as a heroic icon of hope, courage and perseverance.

Unbroken , then, is hard to watch but easy to praise. The horror of the inhumanity it depicts is wrenching. The triumph of one man’s spirit and heart is both astounding and deeply inspiring.

A postscript: Louis’ son, Luke, tells us that his father, who passed away just months before the film arrived in theaters (he was 97), loved the way it “handled the subject of his Christian faith.” Luke wrote for townhall.com , “Dad, you see, survived the horrors of war physically unbroken, but returned to the states emotionally shattered. Suffering from PTSD, he tried to kill the pain with alcohol and was consumed by visions of murdering his chief Japanese tormentor, a sadistic man nicknamed “The Bird” by inmates. It was only when, at the urging of my mother, he attended a Billy Graham crusade in 1949 and surrendered his life to Jesus Christ that my father truly became unbroken. The nightmares stopped. So did the drinking. And he dedicated the rest of his life to serving others.

“The film version of Unbroken does not spend a lot of screen time on his Christian conversion—detailing it in a series of text cards before the closing credits. And that is exactly the way my Dad and our entire family wanted it. … [His] greatest hope for the film version of Unbroken [was] not that it would be applauded by fellow Christians, although he certainly would have been honored and humbled by their appreciation; but that it would be seen by non-Christians drawn to a rousing epic about the indomitable human spirit who, when the credits have finished rolling, might just discover there’s a whole lot more to his story than that.”

Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

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