Unbroken Chapter Summaries

nbroken is a true story of Louis Zamperini during World War II in United States.

He always got in troubles, fights all the time, and bullied by other kids as he was an

Italian immigrant. Since he wanted to make changes and be strong, he joined the track

team, always ran down the road, and eventually became United States Olympic player.

But soon after, as Louie was training for 1936 Berlin Olympic game, Japan and Germany

severely exercised their power over other nations. Thus, the game was cancelled and he

was deployed to the Pacific front for his military service during World War II. He served

his duty in Texas when Japan attacked on Pearl Harbor that triggered America’s entry into

World War II. He feared of going out on the planes due

to the threats to the lives such as
flying accident, enemy fire, enslavement of POWs, and more. During his mission, his
plane crashed in the ocean and survived 47 days lost at sea.

Soon, he was found and

captured by Japanese navy. Louis came to the camp headed by Watanabe who especially

treated Louie harshly as he was an American Olympian and a former officer. Starvation,

slave labor, psychological, and physical violence was common to American prisoners in

Japanese camp. Every prisoners only had skin, bone, and a skeleton in their body.

One day, Louis was given an opportunity from newsmen to broadcast his

message saying that he is still alive. In fact, Japanese utilized Zamperini as a propaganda

tool in the Radio Tokyo. Japanese asked him to read out the pre-written statements about

anti-American propaganda in exchange for getting out of the prison. However, he refused

it and eventually returned to the camp.

Later, his camp was burned by American forces and they moved to Naoetsu prison camp.

The prisoners were put to work loading coal barges in the cold. The prisoners could not

rest and work all day.

‘Unbroken’ describes that the World War II is the darkest part throughout the

history. It depicts the brutal and deadly condition of Japanese prison and ‘the Bird’. Also,

the movie teaches the audience about how unhuman life was for American soldiers

taken
hostage in the battle. Zamperini had to suffer from desperation, hope, starvation,
disease, and beating.
American prisoners was treated strictly by Japanese soldiers solely because they
were enemies of Japan. Interestingly, at the end of the movie, Watanabe told Louie to
hold a heavy wooden beam over his head, otherwise he would be shot by gun. However,
Louie didn’t give up and fiercely looked at Watanbe in his eyes holding a wooden beam
for several minutes. I believe his fierce and angry eyes gave Watanabe a strong message
and caused him to cry in tears. This scene is very ironic since Watanabe disliked him
since Louie is his ‘enemy’. This scene tells us that people hate each other just because
there are on the different side of the war. I believe we lose more than we gain in the war,
thus this should not happen ever again in the world.