Aleksandra Galert's Blog: I'm thinking about... - Posts Tagged "unbroken"

Last week I saw two movies in the cinema: "The Theory of Everything" and "Unbroken". They are both the stories of extraordinary men based on their true stories, the story of the challenges they had overcome and of the people who were accompaning them on their way. But even though they might seem so much alike, there is a big difference between them. 

For those of you, who haven't seen those movies, here's a little explanation: "The Theory of Everything" shows the life of the famous scientist Stephen Hawking and "Unbroken" tells the story of Luie Zamperini who was a US soldier fighting in the Second World War and got into japanese captivity. 

"The Theory of Everything" is a beautiful movie, without big, famous names on the posters. It's a very well done motion picture, simple, but moving you very deeply. It can really be a movie changing your life. This is a story that says: "Look, this is an ordinary guy doing extraordinary things".

On the contrary, "Unbroken" is totally different. Famous mostly thanks to the big name of the debuting director - Angelina Jolie, good technically, but missing something important - the soul. On the screen you see all those millions of dollars put into it's production, you see all those beautiful colors, but somehow it all doesn't really speak to you. As my boyfriend summed it up, it's all forced. From the very beginning the movie just shouts at you: "Look! He's a hero, he's a hero!". But maybe I'd like to decide myself if he is. I'd like to see a story and find the answer in my heart and not to be forced to it. 

In my opinion, "Unbroken" could be much stronger than "The Theory of Everything". The story it's telling is absolutely extraordinary, but unfortunately it doesn't cause much impact. It's a movie you soon forget. This won't happen with "The Theory of Everything": the beautiful and touching story of Hawking and his wife moves you so deeply that it touches your soul. Everybody who has seen this movie was telling me: "It's amazing", "It's great". 

The fact is that we don't like easy answers, given to us on the plate. Contrary to what we think, we prefer to make the judgments on our own. And that is why one of the movies creates impact and the other no. Because you can cheat the brain, but there's something you can't cheat: the emotions. We have some inner radar to detect the false emotions. And if the story we're told is told just because it's a nice story and can be easily sold - well, we won't buy it. All the successfull stories are so, because one or another way they touch us. I don't think you can find a simple recipie on how to do that. But in my opinion, the author has to stay very true to himself for the whole process of creating and not looking at what others "might like", because in such case they won't like it for sure.