Unbroken

Louis "Louie" Zamperini had a life that literally was made for a Hollywood movie. He was an immigrant kid that started life as a hood that got into fights, drank and was a local nuisance. When he found athletics he changed and found a purpose becoming a famous runner. He was so good that he qualified for the Olympics 5000 meters at the 1936 Berlin games. Going on to defy odds to come in 8th. When the second world war started he was drafted as an air force bomb target finder. When his plane crash landed on the sea, he ended up stranded with two others until captured by the Japanese. This is only half of his incredible story.

It would seem that the main focus of attention for this film has been simply Angelina Jolie. So I will start there and then work my way back. Jolie is well known as an actress. One that crafted roles with a level of maturity and skill that seems ahead of her age and time. When it came to directing some would sneer at her attempts to do something like this but I have to commend her. The skill as a director she has is something people should acknowledge. I have seen that she has a three fold skill in the art of visual story telling and these are actually quite unique. Jolie has a flair for movement of the body, its rhythm and flow is captured with grace. She has an eye for compositions that are natural and unforced but reveal poetry. The third and most remarkable is that she has a gift for story telling without making it over reliant on say genre conventions or standards. This is very hard to do and so should be raised as a flag of creativity.

With Jolie out of the way and her job well done, we must point out the skills of others. O'Connell subtle turn, embraces the man and also allows for the story to be told without the audience being pulled away. Miyavi is clever in his turn, giving the audience a focus to the brutality but also building his performance. He is wonderful with his menacing and disturbed glare drilling from the screen. The film is shot in rich color and hues that bring out textures of the landscape. With the natural eye of Jolie complementing it and occasionally making the symmetry of certain shots breath taking (on the Blu ray). The score is rich and seamlessly melds image with emotion. So all good so far but where I hear you ask does it lose so many points?

This is with the additional features that are for the most part standard fair. You see a film like this deserves a commentary, it deserves a real documentary on the life of Zamperini and it deserves some level of attention to the artist vision. We get only one out of the three, The documentary on Jolie is short and soft in nature. She does not receive any credit for this and it is sad. No commentary and the other documentary on Zamperini and his life is off center and ill focused. Above all else a worthy watch for the film, as it is a work of excellence but the extras let it down.

Now it is true that it isn't the content which should be of interest.