Angelina Jolie's UNBROKEN

A movie review by Dennis D. McDonald

I’m a sucker for well-made World War II movies but avoided Unbroken on its original release due to tepid reviews.

I should have ignored the reviews. You should, too.

Unbroken is an excellent and at times quite unblinking look at what humans go through in wartime - - and at the horrors and cruelties they inflict on each other. It accomplishes this feet in and almost clinical, even documentary way, eschewing the sermonizing and emotional histrionics that might have taken center stage had the story and script been in less mature hands.

What propels the story along are the twin realities that (a) this story is true and (b) Japanese prison camp conditions really were this horrific. Jolie’s almost documentary approach lets these things speak for themselves. You can’t help but be moved by the results. I certainly was.

Also appreciated is the brief epilogue that brings the viewer up to date on what happened to the main characters after the war. The main character, the imprisoned American, returned to Japan in a peaceful role, a reminder that, despite the horrors depicted here, forgiveness and redemption are possible.

I look forward to seeing more films by this director. 

Review copyright (c) 2016 by Dennis D. McDonald