The World War II film “Unbroken” earned a 4-out-of-5-star rating from Faith Driven Consumer, a consumer advocacy organization that measures faith compatibility of Hollywood films with Christian audiences.
Released on Christmas Day, “Unbroken” is based on Laura Hillenbrand’s 2010 book, “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption.” It tells the true story of Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini, later a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, who became an American hero who endured two years as a Japanese prisoner of war.
The 4-star rating indicates the film “leans strongly toward a biblical narrative” and is determined by ratings in five categories. “Unbroken” received four stars in the categories of overall faith and/or biblical relevance; faith-compatible depiction of characters and character relationships; and faith-compatible depiction of situations.
Chris Stone, founder of Faith Driven Consumer, said, “‘Unbroken’ … positively presents core biblical concepts such as hard work, overcoming adversity, forgiveness, love, Christ-like self-sacrifice and God’s sovereign hand.”
And while movie critic Phil Boatwright agrees “Unbroken” is a solid film, he said filmmakers missed the real story.
Director Angelina Jolie bravely depicted Zamperini’s torment at the hands of the Japanese, despite the politically correct climate in which we live, Boatwright said. Jolie will catch some flak for the depiction, but it was a brave and honest decision. What makes the movie good and not great is in the two closing lines, he noted.
“We are told that Zamperini came to forgive his tormentors, including the camp commander known as ‘the Bird,’ who was particularly barbaric,” Boatwright said. “Reading those lines I thought, ‘there’s your story,’ but Zamperini’s conversion and healing process are given virtually no screen time.” (Faith Driven Consumer, BP)
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