Trouble begins early in the picture when we open on an aerial battle over a Japanese island. American soldiers are attempting to bomb a military base when the fleet is attacked by fighter pilots. We see a group of soldiers who at first seem important but end up forgetting entirely. One of these men is Louis Zamperini. Who is he? Well not to worry, we are treated to flashbacks almost immediately. We see vignettes of Louis growing up. As a boy, he was a loner, picked on, drank alcohol out of painted white bottles (to look like milk, obviously), and looked up women's skirts for fun. Running from the law, he discovers a natural ability to run, and by golly he's fast. He ends up in the Olympics years later, where he sets some sort of record and becomes a hero.
Understand his character yet? Good, back to the war. We spend some time with Louis and his crew, mostly as they run around the base shirtless and glistening in the Pacific heat. An impromptu rescue mission calls the men from base to conduct a search, and of course their plane crashes into the ocean. Only 3 men survive: Louis, the nerd, and the muscle.
What is the tone of this movie? We see them scavenge to survive, making it nearly 50 days at sea with little more than their company and a fishing line. Couple the scenery with unbelievably bad CGI sharks and more than one homage to Jaws, and we as an audience are lost as ever. One moment, Louis is telling these men about his mom's gnocchi (in a ridiculously flat scene that attempts to be emotional) and the next his arm is nearly severed by a shark bursting towards the camera. Are we meant to be scared or reflective?
Alas, Louis is rescued, unfortunately it is by the Japanese, and here is where the fun begins. He is held in confinement for days on end before being transferred to a POW camp, supervised by one of the most blatantly homosexual characters on screen since Cyril Ritchard's Captain Hook in Peter Pan. With a heavy hand of eyeshadow and an obsession with his prisoners making (or not making) eye contact, "the Bird" (or so the prisoners call him behind his back) finds a favorite in Louis and proceeds to 'go medieval on his ass.' The film sinks into an endlessly tiring and sadistic bout of torture scenes... One after another... From being punched in the face by every man in the camp (1. wouldn't that surely kill him? 2. the phrase "punch him in the face" is uttered no less than 54 times in this scene) to having his nose broken with bamboo, what is the point?
There are so many things wrong with this film, utterly boggling to the mind, and the problems are thoroughly dispersed. The level of brutality consistently on display is absolutely numbing, and the bizarre homosexual overtones makes one wonder what kind of film Jolie was attempting to make at all? (Overtones more subtle, mind you, until we are treated to a recreation of Cinderella by the prisoners in makeup and bras no less... This really happens in the movie).
Angelina Jolie has meddled in two of this years more unfortunate films (the other being Maleficent) and it's a wonder why this film missed to many marks. If you want to see a brutal movie that is also a work of art, check out the Passion of the Christ. If you want to see a movie about the redemption found in running, watch Chariots of Fire. If you want to see one of the lowpoints of 2014 on film, then maybe this is your pick. Unbroken stinks.
(Awards potential: Best Cinematography (although Roger Deakins has had much stronger films, I have a feeling the Academy will throw him a bone anyways))
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