Line #29 Film/Unbroken


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/63137ea440c08b1db05d2020540524ce.jpg]]
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3	''Unbroken'' is a 2014 film released by Creator/{{Universal}} and produced by Creator/LegendaryPictures that tells the story of Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini's (Creator/JackOConnell) RealLife account in the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII where he was stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 47 days along with survivor Russell Phillips (Creator/DomhnallGleeson) and was consequently captured and sent to two Japanese Prisoner of War camps under the brutal and interested watch of Corporal Mutsushiro Watanabe (Music/{{Miyavi}}) -- nicknamed "The Bird" -- until the end of the war in 1945.
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5	This film marks the second feature directed by actress Creator/AngelinaJolie, who had a very professional creative team behind: the Creator/CoenBrothers writing the script, Roger Deakins doing the cinematography, Music/AlexandreDesplat composing, Music/{{Coldplay}} for an AwardBaitSong and special effects by Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic. Deakins was nominated for the twelfth time -- and didn't win again -- with other 2 nominations for the film, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, in the 2015 UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s.
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7	The film also stars Creator/JaiCourtney, Creator/GarrettHedlund and Finn Wittrock.
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9	A sequel called ''Unbroken: Path to Redemption'', about events only alluded to in the end of the film and covered in the book by Hillenbrand, was released at the end of 2018, distributed theatrically by Creator/PureFlix.
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12	!!Tropes found in this work include:
13	* AbortedArc: The later years of Zamperini's life are not in the movie, but can be read about in the latter chapters of his story.
14	** ''Unbroken 2: Path to Redemption'' was released in 2018 and covers the later years of his life, mainly his conversion to evangelical Christianity during evangelist Billy Graham’s 1949 “Los Angeles Crusade.” It featured almost none of the original cast, was directed by Christian filmmaker Harold Cronk, and received generally negative reviews from critics due to its heavy handed religious themes.
15	%% * ArcWords: For Zamperini: ''"If I can take it, I can make it."'' For the Bird: ''"Don't look at me!"''
16	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: A few plot points were changed to fit standard movie dramatization. For example, in the most advertised sequence of the film, Watanabe tells another guard to shoot Zamperini if he drops the beam he has to hold; in the book, the order is to merely strike him if he lowered his arms (though he does threaten to kill Zamperini a number of times anyway).
17	* BigBad: Mutsuhiro Watanabe, AKA "the Bird."
18	* ColdBloodedTorture: The Japanese were ''very'' fond of this, Watanabe especially.
19	** The first thing Zamperini notices about Commander Fitzgerald is that his fingernails have been torn out. Fitzgerald just says that they didn't get the answers they wanted.
20	* CoolOldGuy: The DistantFinale uses real-life footage of Louis Zamperini carrying the Olympic Torch in the 1998 Winter Olympics.
21	* CoolPlane: One of the very few movies to feature the B-24 Liberator. Although the B-24 was built in greater numbers than any other heavy bomber and used extensively by the US, Britain, Commonwealth, and Free French, only two remain airworthy today, neither of them the [=B-24D=] model featured in the movie.
22	** The Americans also get the B-29 Superfortress at the end of the film, flying over Japan and dropping food supplies over the camp.
23	** For the Japanese, there's the iconic [=A6M=] Zero fighter.
24	* DeadpanSnarker: Several
25	** Cup and Phil regarding their replacement plane, a "Hangar Queen" that nobody wanted. Phil says that it was certified as airworthy...by Helen Keller. Cup describes it as, "Like sitting in the living room trying to fly the house."
26	** After the Japanese patrol plane makes its final pass, Zamperini climbs back in the raft to find it full of holes, but Phil and Mac are unharmed. Phil observes, "If the japs shoot this bad, we might just win this damn war."
27	** When he sees the Japanese ship about to pick them up, Zamperini says, "Phil...I got good news and bad news."
28	** While emptying the latrine buckets at Omori [=POW=] Camp, a prisoner says, "For a bunch of guys who don't eat anything, we sure do shit a lot!"
29	* {{Dehumanization}}: A subtle example. Watanabe refuses to acknowledge any of the captives in Omori as people, simply referring to them as enemies of Japan. This enables him to carry out brutal methods of torture.[[note]]A bit of TruthInTelevision, both on a broader scale in how prisoners of war are treated and for how the Japanese viewed ''any'' prisoners of war in WWII. Doubly so for Watanabe himself, who fully believed until the day he died that his actions were justified as they were not people, they were enemies of the nation. See SoftSpokenSadist below.[[/note]]
30	* DuelingMovies: With ''Film/AmericanSniper''. They both came out around the same time, and both deal with famous men during wartime.
31	* EarnYourHappyEnding: A true story about a man who went through ''[[MadeOfIron every kind of hell imaginable and survived.]]''
32	* EpicMovie: Zamperini's epic tale gets even more epic starting with the war scene onwards.
33	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even some of the other Japanese guards were put off by Watanabe's behavior.
34	* EvilIsPetty: Watanabe's excessive cruelty is motivated by petty jealousy toward Zamperini; the latter broke the record for being the youngest American to qualify for the 5,000 meter track and field event in the 1936 Olympics[[note]]a record that, as of 2023, has yet to be broken.[[/note]], the former had failed officer school and was seen by his father as a failure.
35	* FauxAffablyEvil: Watanabe ''in spades''. He is soft-spoken, speaks respectfully to Zamperini in particular…and then subjects his prisoners to the worst tortures he can think of.
36	* FreudianExcuse: Zamperini's relationship with Watanabe closes off with the former visiting his living quarters after his disappearance at the end of the war, and he sees a picture of Watanabe with his father, neither of them looking happy.
37	* GratuitousItalian: Zamperini in his adulthood. Though justified, as he is a first-generation-American son of an immigrant family that speaks Italian at home.
38	* AHeroToHisHometown: Due to the sheer amount of war hero stories that emerged in the aftermath of World War II, not many people outside of Zamperini's hometown of Torrance, California, were aware of his story prior to the release of Laura Hillenbrand's novel or the film. However, almost every resident of Torrance knows his story and name, and he is absolutely loved and revered by the city.[[note]](His alma mater, Torrance High School, named their football field Zamperini Stadium and is where his public memorial service was held, his childhood home at 2028 Gramercy Avenue has been restored by the city's Save Historic Old Torrance coalition and operates tours of the home, the Torrance Historical Society proudly boasts the largest collection of Zamperini memorabilia open to the public including his WWII-issued death certificate, and the tiny public airport based in southwest Torrance's official name is Zamperini Field.)[[/note]] The residents of the town highly anticipated the film's release, including honoring him posthumously in the city's float during the 2015 Rose Parade.
39	* JapaneseRanguage: With so many English-speaking Japanese, this is inevitable.
40	* KarmaHoudini: Watanabe, who completely evaded capture at the end of the war.[[note]]After going into exile at the end of the war, he was added to General Douglas [=MacArthur=]'s 40 Most Wanted war criminals in Japan list in 1945. He managed to evade capture until 1952, when the charges were dropped. In a 1956 issue of ''Bungeishunjū'' during an interview titled, "''I Do Not Want to be Judged by America''", Watanabe stated “I was just in a great joy of complete release and liberation that I was not guilty.” Watanabe had children during his time in exile and died in April 2003 at age 85, and never faced prosecution for his actions during the war.[[/note]]
41	* MeaningfulName: Watanabe isn't called "The Bird" for nothing. He watches everything.
42	--> ''"Why do you call him the Bird?"''
43	--> ''"Because he listens, and he'd kill us all if he knew what we really like to call him."''
44	* OscarBait: The film quite shamelessly attempted to earn Oscars: It was BasedOnATrueStory, had an [[AllStarCast All-Star Crew]] and even came out on Christmas Day. However, reception was [[SoOkayItsAverage tepid]] and it only received three nominations in technical categories [[note]] Cinematography, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing [[/note]]
45	* PeriodPiece: Set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
46	* POWCamp: The majority of the film takes place in one ran by Watanabe, who is [[SoftSpokenSadist not very nice to his prisoners.]]
47	* ShoutOut: In the Cinderella skit the prisoners put on, the name of the prince is "Hillenbrand". Laura Hillenbrand wrote the book that ''Unbroken'' was based on.
48	* SmugSnake: Watanabe.
49	* SoftSpokenSadist: Watanabe.
50	** In real life, Watanabe stated during a Series/SixtyMinutes interview that he wasn't even ''acting on official orders'' when it came to how he treated his prisoners. To quote: “I wasn’t given military orders. Because of my own personal feelings, I treated the prisoners strictly as enemies of Japan.”
51	* SympathyForTheDevil: Zamperini toward his captors.
52	** A major part of why he had agreed to carry the torch in the 1998 Winter Olympics, as shown in the DistantFinale, was to travel to Japan to meet with the Japanese officers that took part in his torture during the war and offer his forgiveness. Notably, the only one to refuse to meet with Zamperini was Watanabe himself.
53	* ThreateningShark: Sharks attack the raft several times during their drift in the Pacific. Eventually they stop after Mac beats one up with an oar.
54	* TimePassageBeard: Phillips and Zamperini during the 47 days in the Pacific. It doesn't get very long due to starvation.
55	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Ultimately averted. Barring the [[ArtisticLicenseHistory creative liberties]] they took with some of the details, on the whole, the film remains faithful to Louis Zamperini's life story.
56	* VillainousBreakdown: Watanabe during the film’s climax, when injured and malnourished Zamperini doesn't drop the 150lb railroad tie that he's forced to hold on his shoulders for hours of torment. Despite his exhaustion, Zamperini shouts a war cry in his face and defiantly lifts the railroad tie over his head. He savagely beats Zamperini before defeatedly falling to his knees.
57	* VillainousRescue: Twice. When the Japanese plane strafes the life raft, a bullet strikes a shark behind Zamperini. The other sharks are distracted by the bleeding carcass, giving the Americans a few minutes of relative safety in the water. On day 47, Zamperini and Phillips are picked up by a Japanese warship.
58	* VillainTakesAnInterest: Watanabe is especially fixated on Zamperini. He even tells him that from the moment they met, he knew they were alike and that they could have been friends if not for their opposing sides. Zamperini mainly just seems creeped out by the attention.
59	* WellDoneSonGuy: Watanabe.
60	* WorthyOpponent: Watanabe views Zamperini as this. See VillainTakesAnInterest above.

Context Film / Unbroken