Unbroken (film)

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Movie
German title Unbroken
Original title Unbroken
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2014
length 137 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 14
Rod
Director Angelina Jolie
script Joel Coen,
Ethan Coen ,
Richard LaGravenese ,
William Nicholson
production Angelina Jolie,
Matthew Baer ,
Erwin Stoff ,
Clayton Townsend
music Alexandre Desplat
camera Roger Deakins
cut William Goldenberg ,
Tim Squyres
occupation

Unbroken is a US-based war drama by director Angelina Jolie from the year 2014 . It is based on Laura Hill Brands book Defiance from the year 2010 . The film tells the stories of the Olympic athlete, war veteran and prisoner of war Louis Zamperini (1917–2014). Actors include Jack O'Connell , Garrett Hedlund and Domhnall Gleeson . The world premiere took place on November 17, 2014 at the State Theater in Sydney . The film ran in US cinemas on December 25, 2014; the German theatrical release was on January 15, 2015.

action

Louis Zamperini and his comrades on board the bomber Super Man get caught in enemy fire after a bomb was dropped during the air battle over Nauru on April 17, 1943. Japanese associations occupy the small Pacific island of Nauru. Several comrades on board were wounded or killed in the enemy flak fire and the machine itself was badly damaged. During the return flight to the American base on Funafuti , Louis remembers his childhood in Torrance , California, USA. As a pickpocket and thug, he is brought home by the police, where his father Anthony beats him up. His older brother Pete encourages Louis to run . Louis, initially relatively unsportsmanlike, soon became a Torrance Tornado, who was allowed to represent his country at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin . Although Louis did not win a medal, he went down in history as the youngest athlete who managed to complete the last lap in under 60 seconds.

On Funafuti, the crew of the Super Man under the pilot Hugh Cuppernell manage to land the bomber with difficulty because the airbrakes were damaged in enemy fire. They manage to get the machine to a standstill at the end of the runway, badly damaged.

One month later, on May 27, 1943, Louis' crew was given the task of using another bomber, the Green Hornet, to search for an off-course and missing crew near the Palmyra Atoll . On her reconnaissance flight, the two left engines of the machine suddenly fail and the Green Hornet has to make an emergency landing in the Pacific . Louis, together with the pilot Russell Phillips and the stern gunner Francis McNamara, can save himself in two lifeboats. One and a half months of privation lie ahead of the men, during which they are attacked by sharks and attacked by a Japanese fighter plane. Without food and water, McNamara dies on the ocean. Louis and Phil survive and are captured by soldiers on a Japanese warship.

After the first interrogation on the Kwajalein Atoll , Phil and Louis are deported to Tokyo and then separated. Louis is taken to the Ōmori prisoner of war camp. Here he comes across Mutsuhiro "The Bird" Watanabe , a Japanese sergeant who mercilessly exploits his power over the prisoners to beat, humiliate and torture them in all forms. The former Olympian Louis in particular comes into the focus of "The Bird" due to his defiant behavior.

One day, in the fall of 1944, Louis got the opportunity on Radio Tokyo to tell his family in California that he was still alive. In another address, Louis, who is to be used as a propaganda instrument, is supposed to read a text critical of America over the radio. Freedom and a comfortable life would beckon him as a reward. Louis refuses. He comes back to Ōmori, where "The Bird" forces the other inmates to hit Louis in the face so that he should learn to respect.

In the winter of 1944/1945 "The Bird" was transferred from Ōmori. Louis and the other prisoners take a deep breath. To ensure that US units advancing to Tokyo do not reach the prisoners of war, Louis and other GIs are deported to Naoetsu , a prison camp on the northwest coast of Japan. Here Louis almost collapses when he realizes that "The Bird" is also playing a leading role in Naoetsu. In Naoetsu, Louis and the prisoners have to work on coal ships. One day, Louis broke his leg while working hard and dirty. "The Bird" sees the incident. To discipline Louis, he forces him to lift a wooden beam over his head. If Louis dropped the bar, he would be executed. After 37 minutes (according to Tom Wade, a prisoner in Naoetsu, in Laura Hillenbrand's book, p. 344) he nearly gave up; but Louis forces himself, looks Watanabe in the eye and screams out his anger. Again Louis is almost beaten to death by "The Bird".

Soon after, the United States won the war against Japan after two atomic bombs. Louis and the other men are released from their captivity. He drags himself into "The Bird" s quarters, but the warehouse supervisor has disappeared. A few weeks later, Louis was able to embrace his family again in the United States.

In a final shot you can see 80-year-old Louis Zamperini as a torch-bearer at the 1998 Winter Olympics . They took place in Nagano, Japan.

According to an insert , Louis forgave his tormentors, even if "The Bird" refused to meet his former prisoner every time.

Background information

For the film, some events have been deleted or, due to the dramaturgy, presented differently than the reality described by the book.

Zamperini fell victim to pseudoscientific medical experiments on Kwajalein, which is missing in the film. Before Ōmori he was also a prisoner together with Phillips in Ōfuna , a camp not registered by the Red Cross. It was not until the end of September 1944, after more than a year of imprisonment in Japan, that Louie Zamperini came to Ōmori and into the hands of the "Bird". The events that take place in Ōmori in the film also took place in Ōfuna in reality.

The scene in which the prisoners have to beat Zamperini at the behest of the "Bird" took place in Naoetsu. Also, according to Laura Hillenbrand's book, Zamperini was not the only victim of this action. In addition to him, four other men were hit in the face a total of 220 times. In the film, Zamperini's refusal to be used as a propaganda tool was the trigger. The book mentions that the theft of fish from the canteen was the reason for beating the prisoners.

Louis Zamperini did not live to see the premiere of the film; he died shortly before the film was finished at the age of 97.

Voice actor

The voice actors for the German version:

role actor Voice actor
Louis Zamperini Jack O'Connell Jacob Weigert
John Fitzgerald Garrett Hedlund Tommy Morgenstern
Russell Allen "Phil" Phillips Domhnall Gleeson Nico Sablik
Mutsuhiro Watanabe Miyavi Yusuke Yamasaki
Francis "Mac" McNamara Finn Wittrock Leonhard Mahlich
Hugh "Cup" Cuppernell Jai Courtney Milton Welsh
Pete Zamperini Alex Russell Nicolas Boell
Miller Luke Treadaway Roman Wolko
cliff Jordan Patrick Smith Marlon Rosenthal

continuation

In 2018 the film Unbroken: The Path of Forgiveness was released in theaters. The film, with Samuel Hunt as Louis Zamperini, focuses on the final chapters in Louis' life.

Awards

Reviews

“So Unbroken remains the hero portrait of a man who does not let himself get down. Such 'inspiring' stories are at home in American cinema, and Jolie tells her story in a classic format with outstanding craftsmanship. In terms of content, however, the film (the screenplay of which the Coen brothers worked on) falls far short of its potential. "

- Martin Schwickert: epd film

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Release certificate for Unbroken . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2014 (PDF; test number: 148 534 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for Unbroken . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Release Info. Internet Movie Database , accessed February 3, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Unbroken. Retrieved January 30, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Martin Schwickert: Critique of Unbroken. December 15, 2014, accessed April 22, 2015 .