A shorter version of this review also appears in the February ET
Many readers will be
aware of the book War and grace by
Don Stephens, a collection of short biographies of Christians from
the two world wars, that was published in 2005 and again, in a new
edition, last year.
The
first story in that book concerns an American of Italian extraction
called Louis Zamperini. The new edition reveals that he died on July
2, 2014 and mentions the 2010 biography Unbroken by
Laura Hillenbrand and the then forthcoming film of the same name,
directed by Angelina Jolie. This film has now appeared, going on
general release in British cinemas on Boxing Day, 2014.
We
are always looking for ways to introduce Christ to our unbelieving
neighbours and so the fact that a biopic about a Christian has
appeared is good news. Sadly, the film, unlike the book that it is
drawn from, chooses very much to downplay the fact that Zamperini
became a Christian after the war and spent much of his life talking
about Christ and the forgiveness that can be found only in him.
In
his book, Don Stephens prefaces his life of Zamperini with seven
summarising bullet points. The first five of these are well covered
in the film.
The
three middle points are covered the most extensively – An Air force
bomb aimer, decorated for gallantry in action; a survivor of 47 days
adrift on a life raft; an ill-treated prisoner of war of the Japanese
for two and a half years. The bulk of the film looks at these
periods, most of the time being devoted to his harrowing years as a
POW when a man known as 'The bird' did all that he possibly could to
'break' his prisoner. Much of this, which includes a great deal of
senseless violence, does not make pleasant viewing. Hence the '15'
certificate. If you do see this film, be prepared for that. Zamperini
had recurring nightmares after his experiences, until he came to
Christ. One can imagine some people having nightmares after watching
this presentation.
The
first two bullet points (a juvenile delinquent in California and an
Olympic runner at the Berlin Games of 1936) are covered in the film
by means of flashbacks that bring out his Italian background, the
racism he suffered, his delinquency and the way his older brother
eventually steered him in a better direction by means of sport,
leading to some success at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
As
for Stephens' final two bullet points – a drunkard who almost
wrecked his marriage and a Christian – these are almost entirely
ignored. The main film ends when the war ends and just a few
subsequent points are covered in a brief epilogue, where written
material is combined with contemporary stills to fill in the rest of
the story.
All
this means that the only real Christian elements in the film itself
are a snatch from a sermon by a Roman clergyman when Zamperini was a
boy (blurring the fact that he later rejected Catholicism for the
gospel), his prayer in the life raft that he would dedicate his life
to God if he survived and some conversations about God with his
fellow survivor Russell Phillips.
It is
hard to understand why the film makers were not keener to depict the
moment when Zamperini returned to Japan after the war in 1950 and,
having preached to his former guards, warmly shook them by the hand
and expressed his forgiveness. They chose not to do it this way,
however.
That
still leaves us with an opportunity to take advantage of the brief
spotlight on Zamperini to draw attention to him and his Saviour by
means of Don Stephens' book or other materials that do highlight his
conversion and Christian life.
One
other point to make, if it is not too esoteric, is that if you watch
the film carefully you will notice that sometimes Zamperini is framed
in an iconically Christ-like way. Further, near the end we see him
symbolically crucified, symbolically dead, symbolically raised and
this is followed by a symbolic pouring out of the Spirit and a mass
baptism. Some have also detected his representative character, his
temptation by Satan and his final ascension too. These elements may
be helpful or unhelpful in the long run but are worth keeping in
mind.
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