It’s been a while since I’ve seen the first Unbroken movie, but I remember it being dark and depressing. To be honest, Unbroken: Path to Redemption was also pretty dark and depressing. But it had an incredibly joyful ending.
Summary
The movie begins with Olympic champion Louis Zamperini returning home from World War II. He suffered as a Prisoner of War (POW) in Japan and was stranded in a raft at sea for several weeks. Though he’s excited to be home, he doesn’t realize that he’s struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His memories of the war haunt him, but he turns to alcohol for relief. The alcohol addiction doesn’t seem serious at first, but it worsens.
During a vacation in Florida, he meets and marries Cynthia Applewhite. Their marriage starts off strong, but the romance between them doesn’t last. When Louis decides to train for the London 1948 Olympics, he has a serious injury that prevents him from running in the future, which is when Cynthia’s and Louis’ marriage really starts to suffer. Louis has trouble finding a job, his PTSD nightmares worsen, and finances are very tight.
Even the birth of Louis and Cynthia’s daughter doesn’t keep Louis from turning to alcohol. He constantly hangs out in bars and hides his liquor bottles around the house. He even has secret plans to return to Japan to see “The Bird”—the man who tortured him severely in the prison camps. Because he can’t think clearly, he gets involved in a bad business deal. Frustrated and upset, Cynthia threatens to divorce him.
But around this time, Cynthia attends a revival service led by Billy Graham. She has a sudden change of heart and promises not to divorce Louis. She invites him to attend the next service with her, but he only stays for a short time.
Cynthia doesn’t give up, though. She asks him to attend the next Billy Graham service with her, and this time, he stays the entire time. He’s struck by what he hears and realizes that God kept him alive during such difficult times in his life so that he’d be able to experience the joys of life after them. At the end of the movie, Louis returns to Japan and forgives the Japanese soldiers and “The Bird.”
Message
The message of Unbroken: Path to Redemption is that turning to God is the only way to truly be free from pain and loss. Throughout the movie, Louis saw God as the source of his suffering in the prison camps and wanted nothing to do with Him. When the PTSD became too difficult to handle, he developed an addiction to alcohol. But it led him to his downfall.
Louis was only able to see his circumstances clearly when he turned to Christ and trusted Him for salvation. He realized that God didn’t cause his pain but rather allowed it so that Louis would come to know Him. God used everything in Louis’ life—even the worst parts of it—to draw him to Himself. Louis also realized that he had to forgive those who had wronged him because Christ had forgiven him.
But there were two things in the movie that were unclear—and honestly, they should’ve been cleared up somehow before the movie ended. The first was the relationship between Cynthia and Louis. He was obviously not a Christian when they got married, but it wasn’t clear if she was saved before they got married or after they got married. Because Scripture warns believers not to be unequally yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14), I wish that the script writers had made it clear whether Cynthia had come to Christ before or after she married a non-Christian.
Second, at the end of the movie, a slide appeared that basically stated that many POWs suffered from PTSD. While Louis found peace through God to manage his mental illness, other POWs found other ways to deal with their PTSD. I didn’t love the message that the filmmakers sent with that slide—mainly because it felt like they were saying “Jesus is a way to find peace but not the only way to find peace.” I definitely think that medicine helps with mental illnesses, but trusting Christ is the only way to experience genuine freedom.
Closing Thoughts
Unbroken: Path to Redemption was dark, violent, and even disturbing at times. It was difficult to watch Louis’ nightmares and severe alcohol addiction. But it was still an incredibly well-made movie.
The most important part of the movie was the clear message that it gave about finding redemption in Christ. Though becoming a Christian won’t cause our issues to disappear, knowing and trusting Him is the only way to have true peace and strength.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36 ESV)
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