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Angelina Jolie Shares How She Chose to Champion Themes of Hope in UNBROKEN

Angelina Jolie Shares How She Chose to Champion Themes of Hope in UNBROKEN

By Movieguide® Staff

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, director of the 2014 movie UNBROKEN, said it was an intentional choice not to forsake Louis Zamperini’s story’s faith elements but to weave them throughout her movie. 

In 2014, Movieguide® interviewed Jolie after the release of the biopic UNBROKEN.  

Part Movieguide®’s review of Jolie’s movie reads

UNBROKEN is an immensely powerful biographical movie about the life of Louis Zamperini, who became a famous evangelist. The son of Italian immigrants, Louie goes from being a mischievous young boy to an Olympic runner at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. When World War II begins, Louie joins the Air Force, but a tragic malfunction causes his plane to crash one day. Only Louie and two men survive. Stranded for weeks on a raft, Louie and the other men strive to survive, but bad goes to worse when they’re taken by the Japanese army as prisoners of war. Through extreme hardships, Louie refuses to give up.

“There’s something about his story that sets a fire inside of us to do our best, and I wanted to get his message out into the world,” Jolie told Movieguide®. “I wanted to tell the story. I couldn’t believe it had been 60 years in the making…, and I thought, ‘I can’t believe this hasn’t been made.’ Then, our first few days on set, when it was so difficult, I realized maybe why it took so long—it wasn’t easy. But, it was a great experience.”

Jolie also said that movies like UNBROKEN are vital because they offer real hope. This sentiment certainly rings true in the chaotic year of 2020.

“I think it’s anything that helps pull you through. We have so much in the world today that people are disheartened by. We have so much, so many open-ended conflicts, so many people displaced from conflicts, so many people victims of abuse or poverty, and so many reasons to feel hopeless or broken,” Jolie noted. “I think we are all searching for what is it that’s going to pull us through. It’s a decision we make and it’s how we support each other, and it’s how we live our lives. This film speaks of that. It speaks of how to overcome, of how to face obstacles and when you go through hard times.”

Another biblical theme that Jolie wanted audiences to receive while watching UNBROKEN was forgiveness.  

“It’s not a blind forgiveness…, but I think when there is justice and you know that the hatred is actually damaging you, it’s actually part of your survival to forgive,” Jolie said.

The themes of hope, faith and forgiveness were not afterthoughts for Jolie. The director said that she wanted them to run through the movie’s entirety and be the cornerstone on which she told Zamperini’s story.

Jolie continued: “Faith is very present in our film, and we decided it wasn’t in just a chapter: it’s through the entire film, from the little boy looking at Jesus on the cross and wondering what it all means to the man in the end that understands the message of forgiveness. 

Sometimes we represented it with very obvious symbols, and sometimes it’s the light, or the darkness and the light. We tried to do it in a way that would speak to people of faith, but would also speak to people that were not faith-based people, something relatable.”

Zamperini’s daughter Cynthia Garris said that while Jolie left much of her father’s Christian faith out of the movie, Jolie was moved by his faith while shooting.  

“She was not a person of faith and had never prayed before but she found herself at the very last scene of the movie … they needed sunlight to shoot this very important scene and there had been a storm that had been going for a while,” Zamperini’s daughter Cynthia Garris shared during a press conference

“I don’t know what I’m going to do so I’ll do what Louie would do,” Jolie said, according to Garris.   

To the surprise of the cast and crew, Jolie prayed for better weather.  

“Everybody saw it,” Garris recalled. “It stopped raining. The sun came out, a rainbow came out, she said, ‘let’s get this take’ [and] they shot the take. When she said ‘cut,’ it started to rain again.”

Garris added: “She was moved by my father’s faith to try that and that’s what he wants for people to get from the movie.” 

Garris also revealed that Jolie was in the hospital soon after Zamperini’s death on July 2, 2014. 

“I’ll tell you, when my father died we were all with him in the hospital. [Angelina] came about 45 minutes later and she was pointing above saying ‘I know he’s with us, I know he’s there with God.’ I think maybe in God’s plan for Angelina, she was supposed to find Louie and make this movie to find her way to a life that would encompass the Almighty.”

UNBROKEN was released on Christmas Day in 2014.  

While the movie is inspiring and does include faith elements, Jolie also maintains that she wanted it to be a universal faith. Movieguide® reviewed

UNBROKEN is a worthy, well-directed adaptation of the riveting biography by Laura Hillenbrand, but it doesn’t cover Louie’s actual Christian conversion after the war. It’s still an inspiring story about fighting for liberty amid injustice, retaining one’s values despite intense persecution, persevering when all is lost, and holding onto hope when all hope seems gone. Also, the movie extols Christian prayer and loving your enemy. UNBROKEN warrants extreme caution due to some intense violence and foul language.

UNBROKEN was Movieguide®’s pick for Best Movie for Mature Audiences and was nominated for the Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring Movie of 2014.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.