Unbroken Movie Analysis

Today I watched the movie “Unbroken” which was about a former Olympic runner named Louis Zamperini, who later became a POW (Prisoner of War) during World War 11, when his plane crashed in the pacific ocean where he spent 47 days in a raft with two other crew members before being caught by Japanese soldiers and sent to a POW camp. Early on in the movie I noticed that he didn’t have a lot of self confidence and basically thought he was nothing. His older brother suggested that he try out for the track team and that set him on his way to the Olympics. I think his brother helping him had a lot to do with how strong Louie ended up becoming. His brother instilled into him that he wasn’t nothing and that he believed in him even if he didn’t believe in himself. When the plane first crash and went into the ocean Louie and two other men

were able to survive and get onto two safety rafts. The two men were “Phil” and “Mac”. Phil had suffered from a head injury when the plane went down and Mac quickly began to breakdown stating that they were going to die and no one would ever find them. Louie assured both men that they would make it out alive and that everything would be okay. Minutes turned to days and days slowly passed into weeks. The three men kept up their spirts by telling stories from home and talking about God, and his plan for all of them. They caught fish and survived on rain water for nearly 47 days. At one point the raft was shot by Japanese bombers and they quickly had to jump into shark infested waters. After they had survived their attack they quickly had to patch the holes in their raft and were able to keep it afloat. Unfortunately, Mac passed away leaving just Louie and Phil. After a few more days they were found by the Japanese navy ship where they were taken and held hostage.

After days of being beating they are both shipped off to separate camps. This is where Louie encounters a guard nicked named “The Bird” he instantly began tormenting Louie, trying to break him. They made him run races even though he was emaciated and weak and at one point had fallen to the ground. A fellow POW commented that he should just stay down. Louie drug himself onto his feet and completed the race where he was relentlessly beaten for not giving up. He was made to be punched by fellow soldiers, kicked around by guards but through it all he never gave up. He kept his faith and said that if God got him through this that he would devote his life to serving him. Towards the end of the movie he is made to hold a board over his head and if he dropped it he were to be shot. Just when he was close to dropping the board his friends began to cheer him on which made him raise the board completely over his head again. The Bird was embarrassed by Louie and began to beat him. During the beating Louie fantasized about running and being free

again. A few days later they were taken into a river where they were all sure it would be the place that they’d all finally be killed when an American plane flew over and flashed that they had been seen and that the war was over. Through out everything Louie never gave up even when he was beaten and brought to his knees. He kept his faith and love for his family, and God, Louie and was returned home. His best friend Phil, who help Louie keep his faith on the raft and was a huge contributor to Louie’s strength through tough times was also safety returned home.