Unbroken

[Clyde]

This is one of those books where the images I had in my head from reading it seem like all I need. I probably will not see the movie.

[letabrotherspeak]

I thought the movie was OK. Unbroken is a tough book to put into film, IMO. It glossed over the last 20% of the book and tried to tie that up with some captioning at the end.

 

For me one of the most moving parts of the book was the last 20% of the book when he was dealing with his PTSD and then recovery from it. In the book, when he was racing to leave the tent revival being led by Billy Graham and was stopped cold by the sermon and his thoughts drifted to when he was at sea praying to God to get him through the ordeal was a powerful piece and ultimately the turning point in the rest of his life.

 

Jolie tried to capture that a bit in one scene when they were in the raft, but it was kind of left untied.

 

The camaraderie developed amongst LZ and the other POW's never really broke through in the film like it did in the book.

 

All in all it really is a tough book to capture in a single film. I thought Jolie did a decent job and I thought she did a pretty decent job.

[jericho]

Should have told the rest of the story

Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, spoke up about the film on Facebook Friday, saying “Hollywood doesn’t tell the whole story. Did you know that Louis Zamperini almost walked out of the Billy Graham Crusade in 1949 before he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior?” and so on.

 

After returning home from war, he suffered with horrible PTSD and turned to alcohol. It wasn’t until after he accepted Christ as his Savior that he overcame the internal battles that he was suffering with. According to Franklin Graham, he poured out all his liquor after returning home from the meeting where he accepted Christ, found a Bible that had been issued by the air corps, and started reading it. He discovered the freedom and healing power of Jesus.

The New Film ?Unbroken? Leaves out a Huge Part of the Story it?s Based on

[MJAlltheWay24]

Should have told the rest of the story

Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, spoke up about the film on Facebook Friday, saying “Hollywood doesn’t tell the whole story. Did you know that Louis Zamperini almost walked out of the Billy Graham Crusade in 1949 before he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior?” and so on.

 

After returning home from war, he suffered with horrible PTSD and turned to alcohol. It wasn’t until after he accepted Christ as his Savior that he overcame the internal battles that he was suffering with. According to Franklin Graham, he poured out all his liquor after returning home from the meeting where he accepted Christ, found a Bible that had been issued by the air corps, and started reading it. He discovered the freedom and healing power of Jesus.

The New Film ?Unbroken? Leaves out a Huge Part of the Story it?s Based on

 

Did you want a four hour movie?

[Just Jim]

This from cbs sunday morning tells a little of the author/zamperini relationship.

[Just Jim]

This is a little more in-depth from 60 minutes.

 

[video=youtube;aEGL-wyz1yk]

[LOOGY]

Great story with a great book turned into just a good movie.

 

Spoilers Below!!!!!!!

 

 

I enjoyed the movie and havent read the book, which I will now after seeing this. She did a terrible job of creating suspense IMO. I don't know why but I just couldn't get into anyone's character. An instance of this is I really wasn't all that sad when the one guy died on the raft. I was just like oh well. The only part where it was dramatic was when the plane attacked the raft. The time when he was in the jungle POW camp could have really been done better. Or the part where he had to hold up the piece of wood. And thinking back to the all the POW camps, I don't remeber a part where I was afraid for his life, except the wood part. I think it glossed over every single major element of the story except the raft part. If they could have spent 5-10 more minutes in each part getting more emotion and making this a 3 hour movie. I probably would have thought this movie was awesome.

 

To me the American Sniper trailer is more intense and suspenseful than this whole movie was.

[LOOGY]

Also, I read Hitler had met Zamperini. I'd think that would be shown in the film. No mention of that at all. One of the many ommisions in this film Jolie had.

[Hellbird]

Great story with a great book turned into just a good movie.

 

Spoilers Below!!!!!!!

 

 

I enjoyed the movie and havent read the book, which I will now after seeing this. She did a terrible job of creating suspense IMO. I don't know why but I just couldn't get into anyone's character. An instance of this is I really wasn't all that sad when the one guy died on the raft. I was just like oh well. The only part where it was dramatic was when the plane attacked the raft. The time when he was in the jungle POW camp could have really been done better. Or the part where he had to hold up the piece of wood. And thinking back to the all the POW camps, I don't remeber a part where I was afraid for his life, except the wood part. I think it glossed over every single major element of the story except the raft part. If they could have spent 5-10 more minutes in each part getting more emotion and making this a 3 hour movie. I probably would have thought this movie was awesome.

 

To me the American Sniper trailer is more intense and suspenseful than this whole movie was.

Bingo! Exactly how I felt about the movie. Great story, and I love true stories which are my favorite kind of movie. She did not build up any inner feelings that really make you want to stand up and cheer on your hero. There was only one "Yea!" point in the entire movie and you know which one I'm talking about, not even when the war was over either.

 

Jolie had a problem having you connect with any of the characters which was what this movie screamed for, a true feel good movie that didn't succeed.

 

My favorite part of the movie was the time they were flying their bombing missions, that was the one part of the movie that really seemed realistic and kept me on the edge of my seat.

[Hellbird]

I thought the movie was OK. Unbroken is a tough book to put into film, IMO. It glossed over the last 20% of the book and tried to tie that up with some captioning at the end.

 

For me one of the most moving parts of the book was the last 20% of the book when he was dealing with his PTSD and then recovery from it. In the book, when he was racing to leave the tent revival being led by Billy Graham and was stopped cold by the sermon and his thoughts drifted to when he was at sea praying to God to get him through the ordeal was a powerful piece and ultimately the turning point in the rest of his life.

 

Jolie tried to capture that a bit in one scene when they were in the raft, but it was kind of left untied.

 

The camaraderie developed amongst LZ and the other POW's never really broke through in the film like it did in the book.

 

All in all it really is a tough book to capture in a single film. I thought Jolie did a decent job and I thought she did a pretty decent job.

I agree. I think if I were directing the movie I may have even started at the Revival and then from there go with flashbacks. It puts it in more of a perspective of the stress he had to deal with after the war and would help put into light the events in his life that led up to that moment when he turned his life over to God as he prayed he would do if he survived the ordeal at sea etc. they totally skipped the after war PTSD as you said as well as when he was little and moved etc.

[Hellbird]

Did you want a four hour movie?

I think you're missing what we've been saying, the movie only showed part of the incredible story and if you read the book I think the most important message the book talked of was totally left out. Just didn't really feel for the struggles that he went through. Just didn't feel that from the movie.

 

I don't k ow if this will make sense, but I will try anyway. The first preview of American Sniper, when he is on the rooftop and see's the woman give the boy the grenade, you can actually feel the turmoil he had in that split second when deciding to pull the trigger or not. You felt the anguish in just that 2 minute trailer. That was more emotion I felt for that character than I felt for the character Jolie gave us in the e tire movie.

[InItToWinIt]

Saw it tonight. Really enjoyed it. A little long, and the flashbacks at the beginning take a long time but make lots of sense.

 

Disclaimer: Probably the first movie in a theater I've seen in 2+ years so I'm no professional critic.

[HOMELESS CAMEL]

I thought the film was really, really well done. I don't really rank movies until after some time has past, but I will say it brought back memories of seeing Passion of the Christ in theaters. Like Passion, Unbroken isn't a movie you watch, it's a movie you experience. I do get the criticisms, the movie coming across like a paint by numbers TV movie, leaving out the 2nd half of his life, focusing on torture, etc.

 

I thought the acting was outstanding, I think it was a lose/lose situation for Jolie. If she glosses over the Olympics, sea and POW camp, the film may come across as overtly religious and not focusing on his struggle. You focus too much on POW camp, you need to show more of religious side. I see the criticisms, but with his life, it would have to be over 3 hours to try and do each part justice.

 

I thought it was a great job by all involved.

[kygirl]

I've been waiting since I read the book to see Unbroken. I wasn't disappointed but happy someone had the guts to take on the project. The article below is by Luke Zamperini, Louis's son.

 

UNBROKEN Film Gets My Dad?s Faith Right - Luke Zamperini - Page full

 

It’s not uncommon to hear someone say, “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this or that story to be made into a movie.”I can’t say that about UNBROKEN, though. I’ve only been waiting 57 years.

 

I was 4 when the movie rights to my father’s life story were acquired by Hollywood –and finally, on Christmas Day, it will reach the big screen in the new movie directed by Angelina Jolie and starring Jack O’Connell as my Dad, Louis Zamperini.

 

To say I’m thrilled is an understatement. To say Dad, who passed away over the summer at 97, was thrilled is a bigger understatement.

 

He got to see the film before he died –Angelina showed it to him on her laptop in his hospital bed –and he was ecstatic at how it portrays his triumphs and tragedies, up till now most famously told in Laura Hillenbrand’s New York Times best-seller also titled UNBROKEN. The remarkable beats of his life are all there: the troubled and troublesome kid who turned to running for a sense of purpose and wound up representing the U.S. in the 1936 Olympics. The World War II bombardier whose plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean in 1943 and who survived for an excruciating 47 days adrift in a life raft with two fellow servicemen; and the prisoner of war who endured unspeakable psychological and physical abuse at the hands of his unusually cruel Japanese captors.

 

What my father was most pleased about, though, is how Angelina handled the subject of his Christian faith. 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 –especially wayward kids, through the establishment of his nonprofit organization, Victory Boys Camp Inc. (victoryboyscamp.org).

 

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. As he said in his autobiography, DEVIL AT MY HEELS, “The great commandment is that we preach the gospel to every creature, but neither God nor the Bible says anything about forcing it down people’s throats.”

 

UNBROKEN tells my Dad’s story the way he told it: chronicling all he lived through so that what he did after becoming a Christian –forgiving his captors –would have the most resonance with audiences of all faiths, and no faith at all. I’ve talked to many people all across the country who have screened the film in advance, most of whom haven’t read Hillenbrand’s book and many of whom are not Christians, and their most common question to me is, “After all he went through, how was Louie able to forgive those guards who beat him so mercilessly?”Dad got those same questions, thousands of times over five decades plus, and he used them as an opportunity to explain how Jesus had removed the hate from his heart. Who knows how many people –hardened to the things of God –pondered his answer and now find themselves sharing heaven with my father because of it?

 

That was his greatest hope for the film version of UNBROKEN: 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.

That's worth waiting 57 years for.

[ACE]

I personally thought the movie was awesome. It kept my attention completely, which is hard to do. It also, gave me a whole new appreciation for those who serve our country.