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Based on 8 parent reviews

Certainly not a feel good movie, but worth the watch.

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Great story, emotional intensity may be high for some., powerful but unsettling, what an inspirational story., good but not great, zamperini's story is incredible, the movie is rough to watch, american hero.

Unbroken (I) (2014)

• Parents Guide

Certification

• Sex & Nudity (3)
• Violence & Gore (5)
• Profanity (1)
• Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking (2)
• Frightening & Intense Scenes (7)
• Spoilers (11)

Sex & Nudity

• Mild 55 of 110 found this mild Severity? None 39 Mild 55 Moderate 11 Severe 5 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• POWs work outside without their shirts. Edit
• A kid near beginning objectifys women, then later on around halfway through movie he looks at a women objectifying her. Edit
• A fairly intense scene where two soldiers are told to undress, and they do. You see their completely bare backsides. They are also shown at a distance from the front, covering their genitals with their hands. Some pubic hair is visible. Edit

Violence & Gore

• Severe 31 of 55 found this severe Severity? None 2 Mild 1 Moderate 21 Severe 31 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Extreme, graphic violence throughout. This film is surprisingly very violent for a PG-13 rating, and the violence is highly realistic and very disturbing, though this is intentional since the film is meant to show us the true horrors of war. Edit
• POWs stand at attention for many hours; one POW stands at attention and another kneels on a board in place for hours, both slouching in pain. In several scenes, POWs without coats are forced to stand or exercise outside in the winter in snow and ice. There are several scenes of POWs helping each other to walk and we see one man hobbling alone on a crutch. A man has bloody fingernails and he says that he was tortured with pins under the nails, but gave up no information. Edit
• Over the Pacific Ocean, American warplanes fill the sky as Japanese Zeros attack with rapid machine gun fire; tail gunners and turret gunners fire back with large machine guns and down two enemy planes in fire and smoke and we hear one plane hit the water. Edit
• A police officer chases a teen boy, who runs into several young men that beat him and call him "dego"; we see the boy's face reddened by the others' fists and the policeman grabs the boy as he rises from the ground where he has fallen and takes him home. A boy's father whips him with a belt as the boy bends over the dining room table for drinking alcohol; we see the young man from the waist up, see the end of the belt fly and hear three sharp cracks, but see no blood or wounds. During a church service, a father slaps his son on the back of the head a few times to make him pay attention to the sermon. Edit
• A US plane returning to base breaks a landing wheel and suffers a flat tire, crippling the landing and causing sparks and screeching noises; the plane skids sideways and stops at a short rock wall that it breaks apart (the aviators appear shaken). Edit
• Mild 24 of 49 found this mild Severity? None 4 Mild 24 Moderate 19 Severe 2 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• 2 possible uses of the F-word (garbled by screaming and stomping), 3 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, mild obscenities, name-calling (WOP, dumb dego, dumb, dope, broads, bum, nothing, enemy, crazy), stereotypical references to men, women, parents, police officers, teen boys, soldiers, Americans, the Japanese, Italians, radio reporters, propagandists, labor camp commandants, exclamations (oh boy, boy oh boy, shut-up), 3 religious profanities (goddamn), 8 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Jesus). Edit

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

• Mild 31 of 42 found this mild Severity? None 6 Mild 31 Moderate 4 Severe 1 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Drugs, recreational: None Edit
• A middle school or early high school teen takes a puff each time from a cigarette as he drinks alcohol from a pint milk bottle behind a building in one scene and under bleachers in another scene, an aviator in a warplane says that after a mission "drinks are on me," a man sits with a glass of beer in a restaurant (he does not drink from it), and a short glass of unidentified liquid sits beside a man on a porch (he does not drink from it). A man smokes two small cigars in an airplane cockpit, soldiers smoke a few cigarettes outdoors, a jeep driver smokes a cigarette as he drives, and POWs smoke many. Edit

Frightening & Intense Scenes

• Moderate 25 of 50 found this moderate Severity? None 1 Mild 8 Moderate 25 Severe 16 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Three men are on lifeboats at sea, with sharks in the water. While fixing damage done to one of the boats, a shark suddenly attacks. Edit
• Animals are killed for food while the main characters are at sea. The timing, sounds, images, and desperation over the vulnerability of the animals add to the intensity of the scene. Vegans and other animal lovers might want to look away or excuse theirselves from these scenes. Edit
• This movie is a nobody to somebody story with dark/mature themes and war, and there is one scene where the main character gets punched in the face numerous times as a consequence. Edit
• Frequent/Intense Horror/Fear themes. Edit
• Severe for neurodivergent viewers. Edit
• Very emotional, depressing,violent, and hard to watch. Edit
• The scene where a Japanese guard brutally beats/torments a main character may upset some viewers. Edit

The Parents Guide items below may give away important plot points.

• A warplane releases two bombs and we see ripples far below in grass, but hear nothing; an enemy plane flies close to the bomber and shoots (we see bullet holes in the body of the plane), narrowly missing one man while another man is shown with a bloody face and we see a machine gun stand covered with blood, another man screams and holds his forehead and we see a little blood, and a soldier bandages a pilot's head and hand and another crewman's head as the plane skids to a stop on the ground as we see a motionless crewman and apparently dead (his shirt has large pinkish bloodstains). Edit
• A Japanese destroyer finds two US Airmen in a raft, troops point rifles at them and take them into custody as the camera cuts to a Japanese man forcing the captives to disrobe in cold weather and kneel, the man beats one man on the legs with a club, and then pours cold water over both captives as they gasp and one captive cries; we then see a Japanese man slamming an American into a dark solitary-confinement hole with a wooden door and locks him inside as we hear screams and groans off-screen and one man shouts for the Japanese to stop hurting his friend; one man screams in his hole and beats the wall with fists and someone throws about ¼ cup of rice clumps into the hole for him to eat; an enemy soldier pulls him out and beats him with a short club, makes him stand in cold rain and forces him to answer questions and draw pictures we do not see (he shivers and his hands shake). Edit
• A Japanese camp leader forces an emaciated American to run a race against a healthy man as guards cheer; the American falls on his face twice, but finishes the race. In several scenes, a Japanese man savagely strikes an American on and off-screen with a 4-5 foot long bamboo staff. A Japanese man wakes a prisoner at night and beats him in the left side of the head with a leather strap several times, slicing his ear in two places (he bleeds and gasps). In a bamboo-beating scene, an American has visions of himself running in the Olympics to distract himself from the bamboo strikes, punches and kicks he receives. We see a man's red and blue bruised face, with swollen eyes and cheeks, cut lips and some cuts on his forehead. A man's beating is bad enough to cause him to lie on the ground unconscious all afternoon and all night where he fell; the next day, he is standing in the usual morning lineup with his face bruised and small red cuts all over of it. A Japanese camp commandant shouts at an emaciated POW to lift a heavy mining beam, telling him to lift it above his head, ordering a guard to shoot the POW if he drops it; the POW holds it up for hours, defiantly stares at the commandant even though ordered to look elsewhere, then lifts the beam higher, to full arm extension, screaming in defiance; the commandant trembles, then strikes the POW in the stomach, head and chest, also punching and kicking him after he is down while screaming at the other POWs to get back to work; the injured man lies on the ground all night, but is in line the next morning with cuts and bruises on his face. Edit
• In a POW scene, a Japanese man forces about 250 POWs to punch a fellow prisoner in the face and for two POWS who refuse to punch, he strikes a sick POW lying on the ground, using a long bamboo staff, causing shouts of pain; the man receiving punches shouts, "Hit me" twice; the punching takes all afternoon and part of the night, at which time, guards hold up the punching victim to receive the final blows in a silhouette image and then drop him on the ground and leave him; he stumbles into the barracks, hunched over and with facial cuts and bruises, some blood showing. Edit
• In a mining camp scene, a Japanese man announces to emaciated and sick POWs that whoever will not work will be executed; a guard pushes a man off a stairway, injuring his leg in a severe sprain and causes the man to wince and gasp; the injured man is forced to continue working, carrying coal in a large basket on his back as he hobbles, then he swoons, but rights himself and the leader strikes him in the temple with a bamboo staff, knocking him down; a man falls off a high stairway while carrying coal in a basket and we see and hear him hit the ground, presumably dead; the POWs are completely covered in soot and grime, sleep on dirt floors in damp buildings at night, are not permitted to bathe and they have one set of clothing and when the material shreds, they go without shirts; a POW says that he will kill a Japanese camp commandant and another man says that when the war is over, the Japanese will kill the POWs all at once. Edit
• Lines of blindfolded POWs ride in trucks to a Japanese detention camp where they form lines with their blindfolds off; we see American, English and Australian POWs standing at attention as they listen to the camp commandant call them enemies and watch as the Japanese man hits one POW on the temple and one under the nose with a bamboo staff; the POW gets up from the ground several times and his nose trickles blood, then gushes a stream down his chest. Edit
• At a detention camp, we see warplanes fly overhead as black flak bursts surround them; in the distance, we see walls of smoke and flashes of flame as bombs hit the camp and set roofs aflame (no injuries appear); the next morning, POWs ride to a new camp, but we see lines of bloodied faces on dead bodies lined beside the road outside the first camp as a woman covers some with blankets and tarps. A man carries a body in a roll of cloth and we see bloody fingers and toes sticking out. Edit
• A warplane flying over an ocean suffers engine burnout on both left engines; the pilot announces, "Prepare for crash" and the men brace themselves as the plane hits the water with a loud crack and breaks into two pieces; one man is hanging by his life vest strap and struggles to loosen it, frees himself and swims to the surface, gasping and finds only two other survivors; they inflate two rafts and float for 47 days, firing their flare gun and shouting at two planes overhead (they do not respond), and one man says they will die on the water and another man says they will not die; the second man shouts at the first man later for eating several days' rations all at once and throwing the cardboard containers at the first man, small sharks with fins above the water circle the rafts several times, bumping the raft and startling the men and one shark attempts to jump into a raft with an open mouth that exposes many sharp teeth but one of the men beats it in the head with an oar off-camera (he continues to beat it below the frame after it stops moving). Edit
• A man in a raft fires a flare gun into the sky for a passing airplane to see; the plane flies on, but returns to strafe the man and two other soldiers with machine gun fire causing the men to jump into the water and back aboard the rafts twice; a bullet hits and kills a small shark, which bleeds into the water and another shark swims up to the bleeding creature and savagely bites into it. Edit
• Three men in a rubber raft catch a seagull; one man knocks it unconscious, slices it open (we see blood flow) and the men eat the raw meat, but sickened by it, they vomit. Using seagull meat for bait, three men on a raft catch a fish that one man punches unconscious below the frame and he slits it open in the frame (we see some blood) and the men eat raw fish meat. A man in a rubber raft catches a small shark by the tail, punches it in the head below frame and cuts into it in close-up so that we see him removing raw red meat and he and two other men on the raft eat the meat. Edit
• The faces of three men on a rubber raft become sunburned as weeks pass, with peeling skin and open sores while their bodies become overly thin and their cheeks grow hollow; one man dies from dehydration in the arms of another man (his eyes are half open) and the other two men fashion a woven cross, place it in the dead man's hand and lift him overboard. Edit

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Unbroken Parent Guide

This powerful tale of tenacity and eternal optimism is worth seeing. there doesn't seem to be anything more inspirational than a human spirit that refused to be broken..

This bio-drama tells the story of Louis Zamperini (played by Jack O'Connell) who was an Olympic runner before he entered World War II where his ability to be a true champion is challenged in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

Release date December 25, 2014

Run Time: 138 minutes

Official Movie Site

Get Content Details

The guide to our grades, parent movie review by kerry bennett.

Laura Hillenbrand’s book Unbroken has spent more than 180 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. At least 15 of those weeks it sat comfortably in the number one spot. Now the story of Louis Zamperini comes to the big screen under the direction of Angelina Jolie.

The young Louis (C.J. Valleroy), son of Italian immigrants, spends much of his childhood running into trouble with the police until his brother Pete (John D’Leo) convinces him to try out for the school track team. Finally with something worthwhile to run for, Louis (Jack O’Connell) becomes an athletic star in Torrance, California where his family lives. And then in 1936, he is named the youngest American qualifier for the 5000-meter race at the Summer Olympics in Berlin.

That Louis survives is incredible. That he goes on to forgive is almost unbelievable.

Yet many readers inspired by Hillenbrand’s book may be disappointed by the film’s depiction of Louis’ faith, or in this case, the lack of a depiction of his faith. As a child, Louis sits through a pulpit-thumping sermon on loving your enemies. And one of Louis’ fellow crewmen offers a prayer of gratitude after they make a miraculous landing with a battered plane. Louis even pleads for God to save them during a horrendous storm at sea. But the movie stops short of showing the prayers and promises to God that helped this captive endure his time on the raft and in the camps.

Still this powerful tale of tenacity and eternal optimism is worth seeing, at least for older audiences who can tolerate the abuse this soldier is subjected to on a regular basis. Along with some warfare and the suffering experienced on the raft, are lengthy portrayals of his plight as a prisoner. During these Mutsuhiro is depicted as something akin to a savage schoolyard bully. Disappointed by his own inability to rise in the ranks of leadership, he takes pleasure in torturing his captives with brutal beatings and cruel treatment. (In one scene, Louis is forced to hold a heavy beam over his head for an extended period of time.)

Despite the on-going setbacks in his life and the horrific treatment during his internment in Japan, Louis remains hopeful. And there doesn’t seem to be anything more resilient or inspirational than a human spirit that refuses to be broken.

About author

Kerry Bennett

Unbroken rating & content info.

Why is Unbroken rated PG-13? Unbroken is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for war violence including intense sequences of brutality, and for brief language.

Violence: Planes drop bombs on a city. Airplanes engage in battles. Bloody injuries are shown along with the death of some characters. A young boy is attacked and beaten. A youth steals items and then outruns the police. A child is shown getting the strap from his father. A crew makes a dangerous crash landing. Later another plane crashes into the ocean killing most of the crew. Men catch and cut open a bird and a fish. Characters are attacked by sharks, shot at by an enemy plane and subjected to dehydration and starvation. Enemy soldiers capture men. The sounds of a beating are heard. Characters are imprisoned, beaten with clubs, forced to stand in the cold, hit over the head repeatedly and forced to take off their clothes. Some characters endure broken bones. Soldiers are lined up and forced to hit another man in the head. Dead bodies and skulls are seen. A man falls to his death. A man is forced to hold a beam over his head. Soldiers are subjected to public humiliation and threats. Other disturbing scenes of torture and violence are seen.

Sexual Content: A boy positions himself under the stairs so he can look up girls’ skirts. Some crude sexual comments and references are made. Male buttock nudity is seen in a non-sexual setting when men are forced to undress by their prison guards. Brief scenes of embracing and kissing are shown.

Language: The script contains scatological slang, cursing, terms of Deity, vulgarities and some ethno-cultural slurs.

Alcohol / Drug Use :A young teen drinks alcohol. Numerous adults drink and smoke.

Page last updated July 17, 2017

Unbroken Parents' Guide

More About the Movie:

Learn more about the real Louis Zamperini . This movie is based on his biography , written by Laura Hillenbrand .

From the Studio:

Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie directs and produces Unbroken, an epic drama that follows the incredible life of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini (Jack O’Connell) who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII-only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp. - Universal Pictures

Talk about the movie with your family…

What challenges did new immigrants often face when they moved to America? What impression did Louis’ family make on the community where the lived? How does Louis’ self-image affect his outlook on life?

One soldier says that the best revenge they can exact on their captors is to make it to the end of the war alive. How did these captives work together to help and encourage one another? How did the Japanese try to break the prisoners’ unity?

Events in Louis’ post-war life are shown on slides at the end of the movie. How did his faith in God affect his ability to overcome his post-traumatic stress from the war? Why do you think he chose to forgive his captors? How do you think they felt when Louis approached them? What characteristics or qualities helped Louis endure his time on the raft and in prison?

The most recent home video release of Unbroken movie is March 24, 2015. Here are some details…

Home Video Notes: Unbroken Release Date: 24 March 2015 Unbroken releases to home video (Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy) with the following special features: - Inside Unbroken - The Real Louis Zamperini - Cast and Crew Concert Featuring Miyavi - Prison Camp Theater: Cinderella - Louis’ Path to Forgiveness

Related home video titles:

The Railway Man tells the true story of another prisoner of war held by the Japanese in WWII. Other movies depicting the Japanese involvement with the war include Bridge on the River Kwai , Emperor and Tora! Tora! Tora!

Related news about Unbroken

Home Video Release for March 24

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2015 Critics Choice Awards—Best of 2014

2015 Oscar Nominations

"An Inspiring Story of Redemption"

What You Need To Know:

(CCC, BBB, PPP, LL, VV, S, N, A, D, M) Very strong Christian, moral worldview extols courage, sacrifice, forgiveness, and holding onto hope, a family goes to church and a priest preaches about the light following the darkness and says to “love your enemy,” a woman prays for her mischievous son, a soldier prays to God and wears a cross necklace, hero promises to serve God if his life is spared and the closing titles say he kept his promise, served God and was able to forgive his captors because of his Christian faith, plus very strong patriotic values, including American soldier refuses to betray his country for better treatment; eight obscenities and three profanities, men empty out a latrine; strong and intense violence, planes are shot down in battle, men are brutally beaten with batons and bamboo sticks, whipped with belts and punched and kicked, main character sets his broken nose, men are shot, and a man’s fingernail torn hands are shown, but no gratuitous gore, though it’s still rough to see; a sexual reference, and main character ogles woman a few times, including from under some bleachers; some “pin ups” are seen in the background on some plane walls, naked prisoners are seen from both front and back, though frontal sensitive areas are covered; young boy secretly drinks liquor; light smoking of cigarettes and cigars; and, mischievous boy steals, though this is not condoned and he is punished, and prisoners of war dress as women for a play they are forced to put on for the guards.

More Detail:

UNBROKEN, the harrowing and inspiring true story about the life of Louis Zamperini, is an immensely moving adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s biography.

The movie begins during World War II on a B-24 bomber with Louie and his fellow crewmembers approaching a Japanese controlled island. As they approach, they engage with enemy fighter planes. The crew effectively fights off the enemy and completes the mission, but not without serious damage to the plane and some casualties. By some miracle, they make it back to base and land the plane.

In flashbacks, the younger, mischievous Louie gets himself into trouble easily in Torrance, Calif. His churchgoing Italian parents try to straighten Louie out through discipline, but it’s Louie’s older brother, Pete, that really pushes him to strive for more. With the encouragement of Pete, the determined and motivated Louie succeeds at track and eventually makes it to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

The unquenchable determination Louie shows on the track field carries into the war. After the last battle that destroyed their plane, Louie and a new crew are sent on a rescue mission on an old rickety plane. While over the vast ocean, the engines fail, and the plane crashes. Only three survive the crash and make it to a life raft: Louie, Mac and Phil. Stranded with very little supplies, Louie helps the men keep their sanity and composure amid life threatening elements even though he himself isn’t sure of their survival. In a crucial moment when a violent storm crashes over them, Louie cries out to God and promises to serve Him the rest of his life if he survives.

Survive Louie does, but not in the circumstances he wished. Found by the Japanese, the two surviving men become prisoners of war and are thrown into a war camp. Louie catches the eye of a Japanese guard, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, also known as “The Bird” by the prisoners. Louie’s mental endurance and resolve deeply angers The Bird, who becomes Louie’s chief tormentor, determined to break Louie’s spirit. Beaten, starved and stripped of all dignity, Louie remains unbroken against The Bird’s attacks.

Bringing the epic story of Louis Zamperini to the big screen proves to be easier said than done. The script is rich with subtext, but anyone familiar with Laura Hillenbrand’s well-researched book will likely wish Director Angelina Jolie had included more. Most notably missing is Louie’s eventual conversion to Christianity, which isn’t entirely forgotten, since it is mentioned in the closing titles. Though many will be disappointed with its exclusion, it’s understandable that the magnitude of Louie’s incredible story can’t entirely fit into an acceptable timeframe for one feature-length movie.

With the help of seasoned Cinematographer Roger Deakins, Angelina Jolie shows great skill at giving the movie life visually, ranging from the vast ocean landscapes to the intimate sufferings of the POWs. Jack O’Connell as Louie commands the screen nobly, and Japanese superstar Miyavi has his debut English-language acting role as the deeply disturbed and violent “Bird.”

UNBROKEN is undeniably inspiring on many levels. The endurance of not only Louie, but of so many of the soldiers who survived the POW camps in World War II is incomprehensible. At the most human level, UNBROKEN is a story about fighting for liberty amid injustice, uncompromising values through persecution, persevering when all is lost, and holding onto hope when there seems to be none left. These aspects are immensely inspiring, but they are given an even firmer foundation when seen through the lens of the Gospel. Whether it be the priest preaching to love your enemy, Louie’s mother praying fervently for her son, a Christian soldier praying, or Louie making his promise to God, Christian faith is present in UNBROKEN from beginning to end. The final titles reveal that Louie forgave his captors because of his eventual faith in God through Jesus Christ.

UNBROKEN is by no means an easy movie to watch, but it never becomes gratuitous with its violence. In fact, even the foul language is subdued compared to most movies. That said, the intensity and brutality of the POW camps warrant an extreme caution.

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Dove Review

“Unbroken” is a powerful movie, especially considering that it is based on a true story. Louis Zamperini was a strong-willed child, experimenting as a teen with drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. However, he was raised by loyal parents who disciplined yet loved him. His mother prayed for him and Louis often saw her doing so without her knowing he was watching. His brother Pete saw in Louis an ability to run, and to run fast. He encouraged him to train and, sure enough, Louis began to break his high school’s records with his swift running. Soon he found himself headed to the Olympics.

The film focuses a lot on the suffering Louis eventually encountered. He entered World War II and was on a plane that lost its engines and crashed into the water. He and two friends survive on a raft, dealing with storms, sharks, thirst and hunger. During one particularly bad storm, with the water almost overturning the raft, Louis promises God he will follow Him if God allows him to survive. He does survive, although one companion dies a few days later. They wind up on the raft for some 45 days. Louis and his companion, Phil (Domhnall Gleeson), are found by Japanese soldiers and soon Louis finds himself in a POW camp. The commander, Corporal Watanabe (Takamasa Ishihara), sees a strength in Louis he is jealous of, and proceeds to inflict bodily pain and suffering on him, striking him repeatedly with a stick and at one point having the entire prison group punch Louis, one man at a time. They are ordered to do so or Louis’ friend Phil will be killed. Jack O’Connell is absolutely fantastic and convincing as Louis, as is Ishihara as Watanabe. The suffering of the men includes dealing with frigid temperatures without coats, unlike the Japanese soldiers.

Louis faces even more trials, including lifting a large piece of wood and holding it without dropping it after a full day’s work. Watanabe tells his soldiers to shoot Louis if he drops it. But Louis even endures this indignity. He says it is his belief that God is with him and enables him to overcome. He quotes a phrase his brother once used: Take it to make it.

Angelina Jolie shows herself to be very capable in directing the film. The themes include loyalty to God, family, and the ability to persevere by keeping hope alive. Sadly, the strong language and rear male nudity prevent us from awarding the movie our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal.

Dove Rating Details

An air battle with planes downed and exploding; man is wounded in plane and has blood on face; a fight and a boy is punched a few times; man is injured in a crash and blood is seen on his hands and face; men kill fish and a shark and cut it to eat and survive, blood is seen; plane shoots at men on raft; comment about Marines being beheaded; man is struck and hit with a pole, punched, kicked, smacked in the ear with a whip, and there is blood seen in several of these scenes; man's nose is broken; others are struck.

Some sexual innuendos.

GD-1; O/G-3; D-4; S-2; A-1; SOB-1; Geez-1; Shut up-2; a few racial remarks are used like "Wop," "Dumb Dago" and "Japs."

Boy drinks alcohol and smokes, but is corrected by a police officer and his family; smoking and drinking in other scenes by men, including beer.

Rear male nudity; shirtless men; men put hands over privates.

Boy is briefly spanked for disobedience; tension between characters; men vomit; man has doubted God but promises to follow Him if he survives and he does; men fall from a bridge.

More Information

Film information, dove content.

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• DVD & Streaming
• Drama , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

• December 25, 2014
• Jack O'Connell as Louis Zamperini; C.J. Valleroy as Young Louis Zamperini; Domhnall Gleeson as Russell Allen 'Phil' Phillips; Finn Wittrock as Francis 'Mac' McNamara; Alex Russell as Pete Zamperini; John D'Leo as Young Pete Zamperini; Vincenzo Amato as Anthony Zamperini; Maddalena Ischiale as Louise Zamperini; Takamasa Ishihara as Mutsushiro 'The Bird' Watanabe

Home Release Date

• March 24, 2015
• Angelina Jolie

Distributor

• Universal Pictures

Movie Review

“If you can take it, you can make it.”

Those words of exhortation come from Louis Zamperini’s older brother, Pete, when the two sons of Italian immigrants are still in high school. But it turns out Louis will need to cling to Pete’s counsel again and again throughout the excruciating trials that soon pile painfully upon him.

Bullies menace Louis in high school, resulting in fights he gets blamed for. It’s a volatile situation, especially when combined with his penchant for smoking and drinking. But Pete’s seen how fast Louis runs from teenage thugs and school administrators, so he encourages his little bro to join the track team … even offering to help him train.

Turns out Louis is fast. Really fast. As in, the fastest high school distance runner in America. Before he knows it, the so-called Torrance Tornado is competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he turns in a record time on the last lap of his race. Louis dreams of competing again in the 1940 Olympics in Tokyo. And he does make it to Tokyo … but hardly how he’d hoped.

World War II scuttles those Games, and Louis winds up as the bombardier on a B-24 Liberator in the Pacific—a plane that earned the nickname of Flying Coffin. That moniker proves prophetic when the engines on Louis’ bomber fail, prompting his friend (and the plane’s pilot) Russell “Phil” Phillips, to ditch it.

Louis, Phil and another airman named Mac are the only survivors. They lash two life rafts together … and begin marking time and praying for rescue as they strive to stave off starvation and sharks. Mac dies 33 days in. Two weeks after that—47 days after crashing in the ocean—Louis and Phil are rescued … by the Japanese.

Their rescue-turned-capture begins a two-year ordeal for Louis (who’s soon separated from Phil) in three different POW camps: one near where they’re captured, another near Tokyo and a third far to the north. In the last two camps, Louis and his fellows must endure not only the degradation of being prisoners of war, but the sadistic cruelty of Mutsushiro Watanabe, a monstrous man the Americans call “The Bird.”

Beaten and humiliated time and again over the course of two years, Louis takes refuge in memories of his mother’s prayers, his friend Phil’s faith and those powerful, guiding words of his older brother:

Positive Elements

Encouraged by Pete, Louis becomes a disciplined runner—discipline that takes him to the Olympics and helps him endure wartime suffering. Pete also tells Louis, “A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory. Remember that.”

After plunging into the Pacific, Louis adopts an optimistic attitude, in contrast to Mac, who cries, “We’re gonna die!” Louis responds, “No we’re not, Mac.” Mac focuses on the worst outcome, while Louis heroically remains positive. Mac dies and Louis lives, and the only difference in their fates is apparently the mental determination Louis exhibits. Indeed, as they drift for a month and a half, Louis continually stimulates his and his companions’ hope and courage.

Still, Louis isn’t made of steel. Early on in his lengthy stay at the Ōmori Detention Camp near Tokyo, he hovers near despondency, saying, “I don’t give a d–n. Let ’em shoot me.” Another American POW counters, “We beat ’em by making it to the end of the war alive. That’s our revenge, officer.” Louis once more recalls his brother’s counsel: “If I can take it, I can make it.”

The Japanese know Louis is famous and attempt to use him for propaganda purposes by coaxing him to read a script on the radio in exchange for posh treatment (a deal some Americans had already taken). Louis refuses, and he’s returned to the general prison population, knowing what awaits.

When the war ends, Louis walks into Watanabe’s empty room. He sees a picture of his tormentor as a boy standing before a stern-looking father, and an expression of perhaps compassion or understanding comes across his face as he seems to ponder how anyone could have become so cruel.

Spiritual Elements

Louis Zamperini is the youngest son of a devout Italian Catholic family. Not that he’s much interested in religion. He drinks, smokes and has an eye for the ladies. But in a moment of peril, he recalls his mother’s prayers (and we see her praying again later in the movie). He and Phil talk about faith and prayer and heaven. And we see Phil pray—taking a bit of ribbing from Louis for it.

Louis cries out to God to rescue him during a massive storm in the Pacific. “If You get me through this,” he pleads, “if you answer my prayers, I swear I’ll dedicate my whole life to You. I’ll do whatever You want. Please!” As the film ends, we’re told that Louis made good on his pledge, becoming a Christian and eventually going back to Japan to meet with his captors (though not Watanabe, who refused) in order to offer forgiveness.

In church, a priest quotes Genesis 1, a discussion that leads to the topic of Jesus’ mission to overcome darkness. He says Christ came “not to wage war on the sins of man, but to forgive them.” Jesus, he says, “smiles on sinners” and helps them “live through the darkness.”

Sexual Content

As mentioned, Louis eyes a pretty young woman in church. He also hides under the bleachers at a track meet, looking up at the backsides of some female classmates. In a conversation about Louis’ best mile time of 4 minutes, 12 seconds, a fellow soldier quips, “I hope you’re not that fast in the sack.” We see a quick glimpse of small pinup-girl pics in an airplane. Soldiers stage a version of Cinderella at Ōmori in which they dress in drag.

Violent Content

Louis’ early run-ins with bullies who hit him foreshadow the awful brutalities he will experience later. In captivity, he is bludgeoned repeatedly with fists, feet and shafts. Watanabe carries a bamboo staff that he uses to throttle Louis and other POWs. Louis’ face and body are bloodied and bruised, and we see so much damage done to him that at times you wonder how anyone could survive such savagery.

As punishment for being “disrespectful,” Watanabe has every prisoner in the camp—hundreds of them—hit Louis in the face. We see and hear perhaps two dozen of those blows in what becomes a brutal, lengthy scene. After a number of hits, Louis isn’t able to stand any more, and Japanese soldiers hold him up for more. (Watanabe threatens to beat another, more severely injured man with his bamboo staff if the POWs refuse to hit Louis. And to his heroic credit, Louis urges his fellow prisoners to do what their captors demand so that no one else would be injured.) Louis is forced to hold a wooden beam on his shoulders for hours; Watanabe tells his men to shoot Louis if he drops it. He doesn’t, which prompts The Bird to beat Louis again. Finally, crumpled and unconscious, Louis is left outside (shirtless) until the next day.

Airmen are shot and bloodied and killed. Planes are blasted out of the sky. Tokyo is bombed, and we see the blanket-covered corpses of civilians lined up in rows. Louis, Phil and Mac’s life rafts are strafed by warplanes and attacked by a shark. The men suffer quite a lot while adrift in the Pacific, their skin painfully blistering. Mac dies, as noted, and his body is lowered into the water. A man carrying a bucket of coal trips and plunges off stairs to his death.

Japanese guards force Louis and Phil to strip naked and kneel. They think they’re about to be executed, but their captors pour water on them instead. (We see quite a lot of their emaciated bodies, including both men’s bare rears.)

Crude or Profane Language

Three s-words. We also hear a half-dozen uses of “d–n” or “d–mit,” and one or two uses each of “a–” and “b–ch.” God’s name is misused two or three times (once paired with “d–n”), and Jesus’ name is abused once. Bullies repeatedly taunt Louis with the racial slurs “dego” and “wop.” Pete throws the former slur at his brother to make him run faster.

Drug and Alcohol Content

As an adolescent, Louis seeks solace in secretly drinking (from bottles painted white to look like milk, hiding the alcohol in them) and smoking. Soldiers smoke cigarettes and cigars; we hear talk of going to a bar, and Louis drinks a beer in a posh Japanese restaurant.

Other Negative Elements

We see that trying to eat a raw albatross results in vomiting for Louis, Phil and Mac. A soldier cleaning excrement from the latrine quips, “For a bunch of guys who don’t eat anything, we sure do s— a lot. I think this one’s mine.”

In one of my high school literature classes, the teacher outlined the general categories of conflicts readers might encounter in stories: man vs. himself, man vs. nature and man vs. the inhumanity of his fellow man. All of those struggles are present in Unbroken , the true story of Louis Zamperini. No sooner does Louis overcome one conflict than he’s plunged into another. And each is worse than the ones that came before.

Yet Louis somehow endures.

Directed by Angelina Jolie and based on Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling 2010 book, Unbroken suggests it’s a combination of Louis’ natural grit, memories of his mother and brother, and, ultimately, a God who cared for him that got him through. While Jolie reined in the violence and foul language enough to secure a PG-13 rating, this is a movie that reminds me a great deal of three other significant, difficult-to-watch historical dramas: Saving Private Ryan , Schindler’s List and 12 Years a Slave . As happens to so many people in those films, Louis endures unimaginable hardship, then emerges from his crucible of suffering as a heroic icon of hope, courage and perseverance.

Unbroken , then, is hard to watch but easy to praise. The horror of the inhumanity it depicts is wrenching. The triumph of one man’s spirit and heart is both astounding and deeply inspiring.

A postscript: Louis’ son, Luke, tells us that his father, who passed away just months before the film arrived in theaters (he was 97), loved the way it “handled the subject of his Christian faith.” Luke wrote for townhall.com , “Dad, you see, survived the horrors of war physically unbroken, but returned to the states emotionally shattered. Suffering from PTSD, he tried to kill the pain with alcohol and was consumed by visions of murdering his chief Japanese tormentor, a sadistic man nicknamed “The Bird” by inmates. It was only when, at the urging of my mother, he attended a Billy Graham crusade in 1949 and surrendered his life to Jesus Christ that my father truly became unbroken. The nightmares stopped. So did the drinking. And he dedicated the rest of his life to serving others.

“The film version of Unbroken does not spend a lot of screen time on his Christian conversion—detailing it in a series of text cards before the closing credits. And that is exactly the way my Dad and our entire family wanted it. … [His] greatest hope for the film version of Unbroken [was] not that it would be applauded by fellow Christians, although he certainly would have been honored and humbled by their appreciation; but that it would be seen by non-Christians drawn to a rousing epic about the indomitable human spirit who, when the credits have finished rolling, might just discover there’s a whole lot more to his story than that.”

Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

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Unbroken | 2014 | PG-13 | - 3.6.5

SEX/NUDITY 3 - Small Vargas pinup-girl cartoons line an airplane gun turret on one wall; we see small figures wearing negligees, revealing some cleavage. A man stares briefly at a Japanese woman wearing a long dress, hat and heels as she walks away; we see her posterior wiggle slightly. A teen boy sits under bleachers at a track meet and looks up at the bare lower legs of girls, smiling. In a POW scene, we see full back nudity of two emaciated men; we see the bones of the ribcages pressing against the flesh. The camera cuts to a long shot of the front and above the two men kneeling on wooden boards and they appear to be wearing flesh-colored Speedo-type underwear. One scene features shirtless soldiers. A dozen track scenes feature high school males wearing sleeveless shirts and mid-thigh shorts (we see shoulders, arms and legs to the thighs). ►  A teen boy stares at an older girl until she smiles at him; he smiles back at her. American men perform "Cinderella" as a play for Japanese staff in a prison camp; the Americans wear wigs made of mop heads, shirts stuffed with material to look like large bosoms and they speak in falsetto voices as the Japanese nod and laugh; they wear something on their faces to look white, like Kabuki players, and their lips are bright red.

VIOLENCE/GORE 6 - A warplane releases two bombs and we see ripples far below in grass, but hear nothing; an enemy plane flies close to the bomber and shoots (we see bullet holes in the body of the plane), narrowly missing one man while another man is shown with a bloody face and we see a machine gun stand covered with blood, another man screams and holds his forehead and we see a little blood, and a soldier bandages a pilot's head and hand and another crewman's head as the plane skids to a stop on the ground as we see a motionless crewman and apparently dead (his shirt has large pinkish bloodstains). ►  A Japanese destroyer finds two US Airmen in a raft, troops point rifles at them and take them into custody as the camera cuts to a Japanese man forcing the captives to disrobe in cold weather and kneel (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details), the man beats one man on the legs with a club, and then pours cold water over both captives as they gasp and one captive cries; we then see a Japanese man slamming an American into a dark solitary-confinement hole with a wooden door and locks him inside as we hear screams and groans off-screen and one man shouts for the Japanese to stop hurting his friend; one man screams in his hole and beats the wall with fists and someone throws about ¼ cup of rice clumps into the hole for him to eat; an enemy soldier pulls him out and beats him with a short club, makes him stand in cold rain and forces him to answer questions and draw pictures we do not see (he shivers and his hands shake). ►  A Japanese camp leader forces an emaciated American to run a race against a healthy man as guards cheer; the American falls on his face twice, but finishes the race. In several scenes, a Japanese man savagely strikes an American on and off-screen with a 4-5 foot long bamboo staff. A Japanese man wakes a prisoner at night and beats him in the left side of the head with a leather strap several times, slicing his ear in two places (he bleeds and gasps). In a bamboo-beating scene, an American has visions of himself running in the Olympics to distract himself from the bamboo strikes, punches and kicks he receives. We see a man's red and blue bruised face, with swollen eyes and cheeks, cut lips and some cuts on his forehead. A man's beating is bad enough to cause him to lie on the ground unconscious all afternoon and all night where he fell; the next day, he is standing in the usual morning lineup with his face bruised and small red cuts all over of it. A Japanese camp commandant shouts at an emaciated POW to lift a heavy mining beam, telling him to lift it above his head, ordering a guard to shoot the POW if he drops it; the POW holds it up for hours, defiantly stares at the commandant even though ordered to look elsewhere, then lifts the beam higher, to full arm extension, screaming in defiance; the commandant trembles, then strikes the POW in the stomach, head and chest, also punching and kicking him after he is down while screaming at the other POWs to get back to work; the injured man lies on the ground all night, but is in line the next morning with cuts and bruises on his face. ►  In a POW scene, a Japanese man forces about 250 POWs to punch a fellow prisoner in the face and for two POWS who refuse to punch, he strikes a sick POW lying on the ground, using a long bamboo staff, causing shouts of pain; the man receiving punches shouts, "Hit me" twice; the punching takes all afternoon and part of the night, at which time, guards hold up the punching victim to receive the final blows in a silhouette image and then drop him on the ground and leave him; he stumbles into the barracks, hunched over and with facial cuts and bruises, some blood showing. ►  In a mining camp scene, a Japanese man announces to emaciated and sick POWs that whoever will not work will be executed; a guard pushes a man off a stairway, injuring his leg in a severe sprain and causes the man to wince and gasp; the injured man is forced to continue working, carrying coal in a large basket on his back as he hobbles, then he swoons, but rights himself and the leader strikes him in the temple with a bamboo staff, knocking him down; a man falls off a high stairway while carrying coal in a basket and we see and hear him hit the ground, presumably dead; the POWs are completely covered in soot and grime, sleep on dirt floors in damp buildings at night, are not permitted to bathe and they have one set of clothing and when the material shreds, they go without shirts; a POW says that he will kill a Japanese camp commandant and another man says that when the war is over, the Japanese will kill the POWs all at once. ►  Lines of blindfolded POWs ride in trucks to a Japanese detention camp where they form lines with their blindfolds off; we see American, English and Australian POWs standing at attention as they listen to the camp commandant call them enemies and watch as the Japanese man hits one POW on the temple and one under the nose with a bamboo staff; the POW gets up from the ground several times and his nose trickles blood, then gushes a stream down his chest. ►  POWs stand at attention for many hours; one POW stands at attention and another kneels on a board in place for hours, both slouching in pain. In several scenes, POWs without coats are forced to stand or exercise outside in the winter in snow and ice. There are several scenes of POWs helping each other to walk and we see one man hobbling alone on a crutch. A man has bloody fingernails and he says that he was tortured with pins under the nails, but gave up no information. ►  At a detention camp, we see warplanes fly overhead as black flak bursts surround them; in the distance, we see walls of smoke and flashes of flame as bombs hit the camp and set roofs aflame (no injuries appear); the next morning, POWs ride to a new camp, but we see lines of bloodied faces on dead bodies lined beside the road outside the first camp as a woman covers some with blankets and tarps. A man carries a body in a roll of cloth and we see bloody fingers and toes sticking out. ►  A warplane flying over an ocean suffers engine burnout on both left engines; the pilot announces, "Prepare for crash" and the men brace themselves as the plane hits the water with a loud crack and breaks into two pieces; one man is hanging by his life vest strap and struggles to loosen it, frees himself and swims to the surface, gasping and finds only two other survivors; they inflate two rafts and float for 47 days, firing their flare gun and shouting at two planes overhead (they do not respond), and one man says they will die on the water and another man says they will not die; the second man shouts at the first man later for eating several days' rations all at once and throwing the cardboard containers at the first man, small sharks with fins above the water circle the rafts several times, bumping the raft and startling the men and one shark attempts to jump into a raft with an open mouth that exposes many sharp teeth but one of the men beats it in the head with an oar off-camera (he continues to beat it below the frame after it stops moving). ►  Over the Pacific ocean American warplanes fill the sky as Japanese Zeros attack with rapid machine gun fire; tail gunners and turret gunners fire back with large machine guns and down two enemy planes in fire and smoke and we hear one plane hit the water. ►  A police officer chases a teen boy, who runs into several young men that beat him and call him "dego"; we see the boy's face reddened by the others' fists and the policeman grabs the boy as he rises from the ground where he has fallen and takes him home. A boy's father whips him with a belt as the boy bends over the dining room table for drinking alcohol; we see the young man from the waist up, see the end of the belt fly and hear three sharp cracks, but see no blood or wounds (please see the Substance Use category for more details). During a church service, a father slaps his son on the back of the head a few times to make him pay attention to the sermon. ►  A US plane returning to base breaks a landing wheel and suffers a flat tire, crippling the landing and causing sparks and screeching noises; the plane skids sideways and stops at a short rock wall that it breaks apart (the aviators appear shaken). ►  A man in a raft fires a flare gun into the sky for a passing airplane to see; the plane flies on, but returns to strafe the man and two other soldiers with machine gun fire causing the men to jump into the water and back aboard the rafts twice; a bullet hits and kills a small shark, which bleeds into the water and another shark swims up to the bleeding creature and savagely bites into it. ►  A Japanese officer announces that the war is in cessation and invites the POWs to bathe, for the first time, in the nearby river; one POW says, "This is it. We're dead" as the prisoners march through a tunnel and into the shallow part of a river where they see a plane in the sky; they are frightened until they see that it is not a Japanese plane. ►  Three men in a rubber raft catch a seagull; one man knocks it unconscious, slices it open (we see blood flow) and the men eat the raw meat, but sickened by it, they vomit large amounts of yellow material over the sides of the rafts. Using seagull meat for bait, three men on a raft catch a fish that one man punches unconscious below the frame and he slits it open in the frame (we see some blood) and the men eat raw fish meat. A man in a rubber raft catches a small shark by the tail, punches it in the head below frame and cuts into it in close-up so that we see him removing raw red meat and he and two other men on the raft eat the meat. ►  The faces of three men on a rubber raft become sunburned as weeks pass, with peeling skin and open sores while their bodies become overly thin and their cheeks grow hollow; one man dies from dehydration in the arms of another man (his eyes are half open) and the other two men fashion a woven cross, place it in the dead man's hand and lift him overboard. ►  While two men plug holes in their rafts, one man asks, "Are we gonna die?" and the other man answers, "Maybe." POWs hear that President Roosevelt is dead and one man falls to his knees and cries. ►  We see a photo of a frightened little boy standing next to his mean-looking military-clad father. POWs clean out shallow latrines and we see large amounts of brown material (presumably feces); the men remark that it smells bad and they carry it in large containers to the ocean and dump it in.

LANGUAGE 5 - 2 possible F-words (garbled by a man that's screaming and stomping), 3 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 5 mild obscenities, name-calling (WOP, dumb dego, dumb, dope, broads, bum, nothing, enemy, crazy), stereotypical references to men, women, parents, police officers, teen boys, soldiers, Americans, the Japanese, Italians, radio reporters, propagandists, labor camp commandants, exclamations (oh boy, boy oh boy, shut-up), 3 religious profanities (GD), 8 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Jesus, God Made Two Great Lights. Thank God).

SUBSTANCE USE - A middle school or early high school teen takes a puff each time from a cigarette as he drinks alcohol from a pint milk bottle behind a building in one scene and under bleachers in another scene (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details), an aviator in a warplane says that after a mission "drinks are on me," a man sits with a glass of beer in a restaurant (he does not drink from it), and a short glass of unidentified liquid sits beside a man on a porch (he does not drink from it). A man smokes two small cigars in an airplane cockpit, soldiers smoke a few cigarettes outdoors, a jeep driver smokes a cigarette as he drives, and POWs smoke many cigarettes dropped from a plane at their labor camp.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - War, torture, starvation, death, forced labor, detention camps, POWs, prejudice, bullies, survival, anger, forgiveness, the custom of men playing female parts in Japanese plays, smoking.

MESSAGE - An unbreakable attitude can help one survive almost anything.

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated , Special , Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.

REVIEWS See ratings & reviews at Critics.com

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Family Movie Review: Unbroken (PG-13)

MPAA Rating: PG-13          Length: 137 minutes

Age Appropriate For: 13+. The movie is about the experiences of American soldier Louis Zamperini, who was a prisoner of war of Japan during World War II and was tortured and abused during that time; there is cursing, beatings, starvation, and various other violence, on top of the typical war violence (bombings, plane crashes) and threats of shark attacks. Also some male nudity (bare butts in the POW camp), the suggestion that a character is gay, some youth lawlessness (children bully and beat up Louis, who also steals and runs from the cops and is spanked by his father), and characters drinking and smoking cigarettes. Overall, though, it’s meant to be an uplifting, inspirational message with some Christian ideology, and it is often effective.

‘Unbroken’ follows a typical awards-bait formula to tell the story of the atypical Louis Zamperini, an Olympian who survived a plane crash, 47 days at sea, and a prisoner of war camp during World War II. The film hits the right emotional beats, even though it’s stiflingly obvious in its approach.

By Roxana Hadadi

Filtered golden lighting and sweeping cinematography. A script full of inspirational one-liners. A swelling, omnipresent score. A story of American guts triumphing over foreign evil. “Unbroken” has all of the elements of Oscar bait in its presentation of the life of Olympian, plane-crash survivor, and prisoner of war Louis Zamperini, and sometimes it staggers under the weight of all the important things it’s trying to convey. But ultimately the film can’t help but move you, and you won’t find any better movie to see with your older relatives this holiday season.

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Family movie review: godzilla vs. kong (pg-13), family movie review: earwig and the witch (pg), family movie review: over the moon (pg).

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• Journal of Sport History

Unbroken dir. by Angelina Jolie (review)

• Scott A.G.M. Crawford
• University of Illinois Press
• Volume 43, Number 2, Summer 2016
• pp. 217-218
• View Citation

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