Unbroken Looks Like A Great Film...


Selene

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Unbroken is good. Director Angelina Jolie tells the story well, especially in the first half. Then Louie is captured and the 137-minute running time becomes noticeable.

The best World War II movie in theatres now is The Imitation Game.

Thanks.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2084970/

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I'll definitely see Unbroken when Netflix offers it, and will enjoy it for what it is... an entertaining movie. But there was an important life changing experience which was purposefully removed from the movie so as not to offend the secular leftist audience...

Cal Thomas:

Audiences are told “Unbroken” is a “true story.” It is true, as far as it goes, but the story is incomplete.

There have been many World War II stories told in film depicting triumphs of personal courage and survival. The story of Louis Zamperini is one such story, but with an added dimension. Zamperini, who died this year at age 97, came home an angry man. He became addicted to alcohol and cigarettes and verbally abused his young wife as he wrestled with his inner demons. The skeleton of his story is in the film — the plane crash at sea while on a rescue mission; the 47 days floating on a raft before being picked up by a Japanese ship and thrown into a prison camp; the relentless torture and eventual liberation at the end of the war.

After returning to Los Angeles, Zamperini is shown hugging his brother and parents, but the story ends there. Director Angelina Jolie attempts to put some flesh on the bones at the end of the film with some still shots and words that tell us that Zamperini’s faith led him to return to Japan on a personal mission of reconciliation.

In media appearances, Miss Jolie has refused to discuss why the most remarkable part of Zamperini’s story was excluded from the film. That would be the night he was converted at the 1949 Billy Graham crusade in Los Angeles. As Ms. Hillenbrand tells it in her book, Louis came home, poured his alcohol down the drain, threw out his cigarettes, was reconciled with his wife and became a new man because, he said, he had asked Jesus Christ to be his savior.


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/28/cal-thomas-louis-zamperini-unbroken-movie-misses-s/#ixzz3NQE9WGJk
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

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Of course omitting portions of a 473-page book is "purposeful." The film could not have covered Zamperini's post-war life without running over three hours. (Short shrift is also given to his life of crime as a youngster.) However, since the air battle/ocean survival/prison camp scenes cover ground well trod by previous films, Jolie and the screenwriting Coen Brothers might have done better to focus on the former prisoner-of-war overcoming his hatred through religion. Doing so would have made for a more interesting, less predictable film, but not the sort that produces big box office returns.

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I rarely go to theaters so I'll wait for Redbox to offer it & see it then, along with The Imitation Game.

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However, since the air battle/ocean survival/prison camp scenes cover ground well trod by previous films, Jolie and the screenwriting Coen Brothers might have done better to focus on the former prisoner-of-war overcoming his hatred through religion. Doing so would have made for a more interesting, less predictable film, but not the sort that produces big box office returns.

...certainly not for secularist leftist audience to whom Jolie panders.

Greg

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I rarely go to theaters so I'll wait for Redbox to offer it & see it then, along with The Imitation Game.

Same here... we enjoy watching all of the movies when they're available on Netflix. The ones we really like, we buy.

Greg

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I think Billy Graham did a lot of good with his crusades. From my perspective I see them as massive doses of psychotherapy, but from a believer's perspective it's submission to God and a Jesus who do not want you to be all screwed up screwing up your life. One is not saved by going to heaven. One is saved on earth to go to heaven. Nothing secular has ever matched up with the power of this collective, social impulse exploited by religion which feedbacks and in turn nurtures religion. Frankly, the Christian religion. The reason is even a philosophy of reason--we can call it Objectivism--is at the core individualistic. Reason is one brain thinking. You get something similar with a totalitarian system such as communism and Nazism but only by turning off your brain and becoming, at best, a "digit." Christianity doesn't require this though for those who want to be irrational there's lots of room in Christianity even to mass insanity. Regardless, There's no room in Objectivism--Objectivism properly understood--for irrationality as such. It will take centuries upon centuries to build up the philosophy through critical thinking and mass acceptance for as it is now it's just not enough. In the meantime competing philosophies, which include religion as in religious philosophies, tend to devolve into geo-political conflicts and wars. The only transcendence will be replacing "God" with reality--or the god of reality, especially by us secularists.

--Brant

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However, since the air battle/ocean survival/prison camp scenes cover ground well trod by previous films, Jolie and the screenwriting Coen Brothers might have done better to focus on the former prisoner-of-war overcoming his hatred through religion. Doing so would have made for a more interesting, less predictable film, but not the sort that produces big box office returns.

...certainly not for secularist leftist audience to whom Jolie panders.

Greg

As usual, the "Hollywood" clique has no clue what folks want to see.

Take Facing The Giants, a small budget film about belief and maximizing ones personal efforts to achieve each individual's best within themselves.

A PG rating, which was based on:

In May 2006, the producers of Facing the Giants received notice from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) that the film would be receiving a "Parental Guidance Suggested" rating, or PG rating.[6] The Drudge Report picked up the story on June 8, 2006, which sparked a controversy alleging that the film was being given a "PG" rating solely because of its religious theme. The New York Times, Good Morning America, Fox News, and many talk radio programs covered this story.[7]

According to the film's producers, they were told the motion picture received a PG rating because of its strong religious themes and because it elevated one religion over another.[6] However, MPAA later explained that Facing the Giants contains football violence and also deals with the mature topics of infertility and depression.

The Kendrick brothers expected the PG rating because of the movie's mature themes and did not appeal the board's rating.[7]

Really?

Box office

In its first weekend, the film opened on 441 screens nationwide in the United States.[5] Despite such a small number of theaters, the film opened in twelfth place with $1,343,537. Only three films in the top ten released that weekend grossed more per theater. For such a small budget of $100,000, the film ultimately was shown in over 1,000 theaters and grossed a total of $10,178,331.[5] The film opened in South Korea on April 16, 2010, eventually grossing $64,828. The worldwide total (as of June 20, 2010) for the movie stands at $10,243,159. DVD sales have also been strong, with 2.3 million units sold in 57 countries.

Atlas should have done this well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facing_the_Giants

A...

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I cant stand being put in emotionally subjective positions by movies that dont adhere to the bio line. I much prefer to read the non fiction bios. Seeing A Beautiful Mind a few weeks back I hunted down snippets of interviews by John Nash. It meant immeasurably more to me than the movie. I cried a river. Its likely true that he wouldnt have crossed my radar without the movie.

Theres a 2014 movie called Codebreaker about Alan Turing on Netflix now.

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As usual, the "Hollywood" clique has no clue what folks want to see.

They actually do have a clue as to what secular leftists want to see... just not Americans.

Take Facing The Giants, a small budget film about belief and maximizing ones personal efforts to achieve each individual's best within themselves.

Thanks for the tip, Adam. It looks really good. :smile:

I watched the trailer and put it into our Netflix queue.

Greg

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As usual, the "Hollywood" clique has no clue what folks want to see.

They actually do have a clue as to what secular leftists want to see... just not Americans.

Take Facing The Giants, a small budget film about belief and maximizing ones personal efforts to achieve each individual's best within themselves.

Thanks for the tip, Adam. It looks really good. :smile:

I watched the trailer and put it into our Netflix queue.

Greg

Greg:

You are quite welcome.

As a a person who played competitive football, the coches metaphor/comparison to building a defense using a biblical parable is perfect:

“Stone wall! ... Stone wall!”

Coach Grant Taylor asks his defense to play like they are building a stone wall. That style of defense could stop

even the best offense. It’s an idea the coach borrowed from the greatest playbook ever: the Bible.

In the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament, the prophet Nehemiah tells the true story of how he went to

Jerusalem to help rebuild the city’s protective walls. “Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem

lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come,let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be

in disgrace.’ ... They replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work.” (Nehemiah 2:17–18)

Remember, God still wants us to build stone walls by doing our best for Him.

Apparently, both are based on a real life stories.

I have met folks like this all over this country.

As an unconnected aside, Quaker meetings are extremely interesting and worth the time.

A...

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I'm looking forward to seeing American Sniper.

Does look pretty good.

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Brad Pitt as Tankman was pretty good too. My dad spent his late teenage and early twenties as a turret gunner in WWII, having been advised that it was the safest place in the tank. that is the only thing he ever said about it, he survived the war, so maybe he was advised right.

Brangelina forever!

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I have met folks like this all over this country.

As an unconnected aside, Quaker meetings are extremely interesting and worth the time.

A...

It's encouraging to hear that, Adam. If only there were enough Americans living in America, the government would then be both minimal and Constitutional. But there aren't... so it isn't.

Yesterday I heard a recorded radio interview with Louis Zamperini. It was moving to hear him describe in his own words how his life was transformed. They don't call his the Greatest Generation for nothing.

Greg

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Brad Pitt as Tankman was pretty good too. My dad spent his late teenage and early twenties as a turret gunner in WWII, having been advised that it was the safest place in the tank. that is the only thing he ever said about it, he survived the war, so maybe he was advised right.

Brangelina forever!

Your dad could have been easily killed if he was in Europe. As a Canadian he likely almost was. German armor was much superior to allied armor. Heavier armor and bigger guns. The German problem was if they destroyed a bunch of Shermans a bunch more were still coming. If your dad was on top with the machine gun, it meant if the tank was hit he just might be able to get out alive for he would have been halfway out for starters. Contrary, he would have been vulnerable to small arms fire. A lot of soldiers who saw and/or caused a lot of death and dying and dead bodies simply didn't talk about it when they came home. I personally was not traumatized to the point of coming home with PTSD, but I experienced enough to know how that happens. Sometimes I write about it for OL then delete it or at least some of the details. The problem is the reader with no combat experience doesn't really understand what he is reading. It is not about glory days on the gridiron, but it might seem that that's the tale. Here is a story that I wasn't involved in: a medic who went through training with me, Robert A. Johnson, was sent to an A-Team at Con Thien, just south of the DMZ. His medical bunker was hit by a 175mm artillery round and blew off his legs. As they tried frantically to save his life with IVed blood plasma expanders, he just said, "I'm sorry," and died. (Con Thien was turned over to the Marines that July--1967--and the North Vietnamese gave them continuous bombardment hell.)

I'm telling this story because while I now want to delete it I can't. I can't because that would disrespect my memory of Robert and the man himself. I didn't know this until I wrote it. I only knew I could write it. His parents must be dead by now--his father was an FBI agent--so they won't be reading it.

--Brant

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It is always about context.

As a fire fighter, arson investigator, and officer in the NYFD for 35 years, I became used to hearing about horrendous scenes that were just in a days work for these folks.

ER's are similar in terms of seeing the absolute destruction that can be visited on the human body by other humans, or, natural events.

I agree that most combat vets do not tell their stories, or, what they have seen, heard, smelled and felt in combat.

That I can fully understand.

A...

Excellent post Brant

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