The holiday season involved a stress free break from school and work where anyone can shamelessly choose to spend the day watching movie after movie. On Christmas Day the movie directed by Angelina Jolie, Unbroken, was released. Unbroken is not only a movie, but also a book by Laura Hillenbrand. It depicts the life of a real Olympic athlete who is drafted into WWII and the trials he endures. This movie was inspiring, eye-opening, and over all captivating from beginning to end.

This very intense and true story begins with Louie Zamperini’s life flashing back and forth between the past and present. In the past it shows him as a young troublemaking boy who found his talent of running while simultaneously flashing to his current life in the middle of a war scene over the ocean in a plane. Through the flashbacks one gets to see how Louie achieved his dream of running in the Olympics, but also how quickly his dream is cut short after he is drafted into the army.

The rest of the movie lays out the struggles that Louie and other American soldiers went through during WWII. A consistent theme throughout the movie is that Louie’s situation seems to go from bad to worse. At the Japanese prisoner of war camps Louie seems to be especially treated poorly. Between the physical torture, lack of food, over work and mental fatigue, Louie somehow always seems to rise to the occasions and press forward through all the trials that come his way.

Unbroken is an emotionally moving movie that made me feel especially thankful for all the people that make sacrifices for the greater good, whether in war or just the heroes of day to day life.

I have given this movie nothing but praise and would definitely list it as one of the best movies of 2014. Unbroken is a must see.