Almost exactly a year ago, I finished reading the book _Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption_ by Laura Hillenbrand. I wrote about it and then I even wrote a brief about it, which was published on Amazon.
So, when I heard that the film was being made, I was quite excited about it as it’s such a great story.
Last weekend, I made M go see it with me, but I’m afraid I was sadly disappointed. M had never read the book, but came out saying “It was just missing something, wasn’t it?”. My response was, “Yeah, like 2/3 of the book!”.
There’s so much of the story that is interwoven and necessary that I can imagine it was quite hard for Angelina Jolie to pick out the pieces to adequately tell the story. The parts that were taken in entirety were well-done; however, there just weren’t enough and perhaps not enough time to do it justice.
In any case, it’s a decent film – though quite PG for a story that is graphically disturbing. I’d say it’s okay to see it with teenagers and to draw interest in the story. However, if you haven’t read the book – read it after you’ve seen the movie. Yes, this is advice contrary to my usual recommendation. In this case, reading the book before the movie just sets you up for grave disappointment…. :*(
More to come,
-T
