Unbroken

Angelina Jolie presents her third film as a director in this World War II prisoner-of-war drama. The film follows the life of Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini, a man who wowed crowds at the Berlin Olympics and went on to join the US air force, only to be captured by the Japanese and subjected to unspeakable hardship. Indeed his tale is so extraordinary it’s almost surprising that Hollywood hasn’t told it sooner.

Assuming the lead role is Britain’s own Jack O’Connell whose recent stand-out performances in Starred Up and ’71 have won him accolades from the critics. O’Connell’s unapologetically brazen style is put to good use in his portrayal of a character whose energy and enduring spirit somehow managed to keep him alive amidst the horrors and misfortunes of war. Also among the cast is indie favourite Domhnall Gleeson, who most recently appeared in Lenny Abrahamsson’s Frank, and who here plays Zamperini’s friend, and comrade in suffering Russell Phillips. The film takes us on a turbulent journey from the backstreets of California, where a young Zamperini is pictured dodging police and peeking up women’s skirts, to scenes of his prowess at the Berlin Olympics. From there we come to the forty-seven days that Zamperini spent on a raft in the midst of the pacific ocean, and finally to the grim torture cabins of a Japanese POW camp. It is here that Zamperini is ‘befriended’ by a sadistic, deranged Japanese officer nicknamed ‘The Bird’ (played by Japanese popstar Myavi).

Jolie’s film is a tale of human endurance and the relentless audacity of the human spirit. Her previous directorial credit for In the Land of Blood and Honey showed her dealing with the stark horrors of the Bosnian war: one might think that Unbroken' s more traditional hollywood epic set-up is a retreat from Jolie's penchant for addressing contentious subjects, but her capacity for hard-hitting storytelling, along with her natural eye for the film's aesthetic, is put by Jolie to powerful use in this her latest creation.