On December 25^th, the movie Unbroken was released into theaters. Directed by Angelina Jolie, Unbroken follows the true tale of Louis Zamperini, a famed Olympic runner who, during World War II, became stranded at sea for 42 days and later imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp. His survival story is so unbelievable, and yet so extraordinary that it’s hard not to like this movie a bit.

Overall, I found that the movie did its job in showcasing just how mentally strong Louis Zamperini was. The actor who played Zamperini, Jack O’Connell, portrayed his part perfectly. I was awed at how well this newcomer adapted to the big screen.

As for the role of The Bird, the actor, Miyavi, was pretty darn convincing considering this is his first acting role ever. Before the movie, he was a Japanese singer.

As for Angelina Jolie, I feel she did a pretty good job in her directorial debut. Most of the movie made viewers feel like they were actually in the movie with the actors. Other scenes really captured the true grit of the scenario, which when achieved properly is a big success.

My one comment to Ms. Jolie would be to improve on casting decisions. 80% of the POWs in the enemy camp looked like they were dragged out of a Calvin Klein commercial; even though the result was huge amounts of eye candy, it wasn’t realistic at all.

My other complaint about the film was that the motion picture completely omitted the last 60 pages of the book. If you read the book on which the movie is semi-based on, like I did, then that is a huge disappointment. The last portion of the book deals with Zamperini’s battle with PTSD. However, the only mention of this struggle is a one line at the end of the movie.

Personally, I feel like that by including Zamperini’s problem, one can truly appreciate how Louis, although dealing with many demons, still survived and there is the quintessence of the word unbroken.

On the whole, the movie was exactly what I envisioned to be: not as good as the book, but still an impressive movie. What I’m even more impressed by is the memoir of Louis Zamperini. If you like feel good stories, then I strongly recommend watching this movie.