Franklinmovie

Survival. Resilience. Redemption.

Unbroken, USA, 2014. Directed by A. Jolie, written by J. & E. Coen, R. LaGravenese, W. Nicholson (from the book by L. Hillenbrand). With Jack O’Connell, Domnhall Gleeson, Miyavi. Original music by A. Desplat. Length: 137′. Rated: PG-13.

United States, after the I World War. Louis Zamperini, son of an Italian immigrant couple, is a modest, self-effacing child; with the help of his elder brother, he finds his talent in running and with much sacrifice he becomes a well-known athlete; after a good result at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, he works towards the next Games, but the Second World War spoils his plans and he enrolls in the US Army. Unfortunately, during a plane recognition, he and his crew crash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and only he and two comrades survive, stranded on two inflatable rafts. They cannot make contact with anyone and after numerous days one of them dies, leaving Louis alone with the pilot Phil. When they are rescued, however, the situation grows worse…

A totally new crew for this greatly nationalist, even patriotic, American movie: Angelina Jolie directing her second full-length fiction movie and the Coen brothers writing the umpteenth screenplay, together with two skilled colleagues like Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson (respectively known for “The Bridges of Madison County” and “Gladiator”, just to cite the most famous).
Well, all those great personalities together seem to achieve much less than expected. The directing is overly scholastic, with a nice cinematography contribution but with poor solutions in both shooting and editing; at the same time, the story is terribly poor and repetitive: the first part seems to stick together just thanks to the rebounds from the ‘present tense’ to the ‘past tense’, with remarkable style changes between the war points and the (extremely brief and undervalued) sport storyline. After that, the endless post-wrecking segment drags the movie to its halftime turn, when the Japanese internment is way too one-sided: the Japanese are all assholes and brutes, whilst the American main character tries to defy and challenge them, getting more and more brutalized.

The problems of the movie can’t be honestly attributed to the actors: Jack O’Connell is penalized by an enormous physical effort, changing from the Olympic athlete to the oppressed prisoner and his acting is admirable but not impeccable. Miyavi plays his character perfectly, the horribly conceived and written Watanabe: I really don’t know how he could have accepted a part so ill-eyed for his country. Domnhall Gleeson… is the only supporting actor that can actually be cited, even if Phil gets very few scenes.

2014 was one of the busiest years for Alexandre Desplat, with two Oscar nominations for “The Imitation Game” and “Grand Budapest Hotel” (which won the prize), so that little can be expected from this work. I’m not saying all of it is to throw away, but surely he’s done better.

I expected so much more from you, dear movie. Maybe the hand was taken by patriotism, maybe the story on which the screenplay was based wasn’t as good as others, but if I had to suggest a movie to watch, this won’t be on the list. Neither completely dismissed, nor promoted.

 

DOWNLOAD REVIEW IN PDF: Unbroken, 2014

LEGGI LA RECENSIONE IN ITALIANO: Unbroken – Recensione