He seemed pretty broken to me

Actually, the history shows that the Bird was pretty cruel to the prisoners in general, and Zamperini was not the only one who was targeted by him.

I just think that the movie would have been better if they had showed 2 things:

1.) the Bird mistreating Louis a lot more than the movie portrayed (which would be close to the book)

2.) Louis didn't seem so broken by the end of it - after all, the title of the movie is "Unbroken."

My name is Gladiator - Maximus Decimus Meridius

Two questions for you:

1.) Have you seen the film?
2.) Have you read the book?

The book illustrates even further just how psychologically broken the experience left Louis. He sunk into alcoholism, and was plagued with nightmares and flashbacks for years, all of which contributed to financial problems, and some pretty serious issues with his marriage.

"Unbroken" is the title they chose to use, but from my perspective it wasn't so much that he was unbroken - he certainly was - but rather that he was able to pick up the pieces and put himself back together to heal and mend himself.

My name is Gladiator - Maximus Decimus Meridius

....any other person would have given up quite easily......

You bring up a good point, and I agree with you. The point of this thread that I started was that the movie didn't not show him as being unbroken, but rather as being very broken. There is a pretty large section of the end of the book that is dedicated to the aftermath of his time as a prisoner of war - the nightmares, the excessive drinking, the verbal abuse of his wife, his financial instability, is inability to stick with any kind of job for every long, etc.

It was very specifically his encounter with Billy Graham that turned his life around. Virtually overnight the nightmares stopped, he quit drinking, and he dedicated his life toward serving others.

I don't think you are a religious nutcase at all. Whether it's truly the hand of God, or the sincerest belief of being touched by the hand of God, that single event changed Zamperini's life forever.

My name is Gladiator - Maximus Decimus Meridius

Zamperini HIMSELF wanted his religion left out of the film, because he wanted the film to relate to as many people as possible, Christian or not.






"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"

He seemed very "UNBROKEN" to me. He had more courage than a lot of people.

by blubird-1 » Sat Sep 26 2015 23:49:08
Post Edited: Sun Sep 27 2015 00:00:55:

It applies to his spirit not his body. In the movie its shown when the bullies push him to the ground, he gets right back up, when he is tripped as he is running he just runs faster, when he is knocked down repeatedly as a prisoner, he always gets back up (even when he knew it was better if he stayed down). Also when he won in the Olympics came from behind. Seems what pushed him to be his best was when he was challenged by his circumstances. That is usually a sign of a strong spirit. In the book he does have a very bad PTSD when he returns home but develops a deep spirituality that he says saved him later on. Even when he wasn't a believer, he had a strong spirit but has an even stronger one when he found god. Think the title refers to he always overcame whatever was traumatizing him through his strong spirit. He also had a pretty positive attitude through everything, he would be that guy that would see the silver lining. He does it often in the movie. Louie always talked about god & faith saved him but after reading his story, and yes the movie, he had those qualities from the beginning. They just got lost for a bit.

Forget about the scene with the timber, and go instead to the scene where he goes up into the Bird's quarters and completely breaks down.

Again, if you read the book, which goes into a good bit of detail about the life he led after he got home, he was broken in a number of different ways - he was spiritually broken as well.

My name is Gladiator - Maximus Decimus Meridius