Tag Archives: Roger Deakins

Unbroken (2015)

My Ratings: 2.5/5.

Here comes the first review of 2015; a war drama, an epic tale of survival, a journey of a man through tremendous hardship and adversities and yet his soul remains unbroken!

Yes, the film Unbroken desperately tries to portray Louis “Louie” Zamperini‘s extraordinary life, especially focused on his adventures or rather misadventures while he was serving his country in the WWII. 

Escaping death in a plane crash Louis Zamperini manages to stay alive in the middle of the sea for 47 days on a raft (without proper food and water) along with two of his fellow army men until finally the Japanese army rescues them. He was taken in captivity as a war prisoner, tortured and tormented till the war ended.

Based on Laura Hillenbrand‘s brilliantly written book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption the film also highlights Louis Zamperini’s fame and success as an athlete who represented USA in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany.

Directed by Angelina Jolie (her second feature as a director), and though the screenplay credit boasts of names like the Coen Brothers (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen), the film still falls short of my expectation. 

First of all it’s a tad too stretched and then again the dramatic moments are not dramatic enough (if that makes any sense).

Good camera work by Roger Deakins though but the music doesn’t have much impact.

And also according to me the character graph of Zamperini doesn’t properly gets revealed in the end. He evidently suffers a lot but does anything change in him because of such intense struggle for survival? How does he cope with his normal life when it’s all over?

While watching Unbroken you can’t help but compare it with legendary films like The Bridge on the River Kwai and Life of Pi which again doesn’t particularly help the film.

But one thing that definitely needs to be appreciated is Jack O’Connell‘s excellent performance. He as the lead character is the body and soul of the film, and probably the only reason to watch Unbroken.

Hope 2015 gets better than this.