Broken

This December, a movie on Louie Zamperini's life, "Unbroken," will be shown in theaters across the United States. 

His life is amazing. During World War 2, he is caught by the Japanese, after he survives 47 days in the Pacific on a life raft. He is abused terribly by a guard named Watanabe. He remains unbroken by his captives, it seems. However, in reality he is broken. Immediately after the war, He struggles with alchoholism. 

But then he is mended through the gospel of Christ at a Billy Graham Crusade. He himself says, "I dropped to my knees and for the first time in my life truly humbled myself before the Lord. I ask him to forgive me for not having kept the promises I'd made during the war, and for my sinful life. I made no excuses. I did not rationalize, I did not blame. He had said, 'Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,' so I took him at his word, begged for his pardon, and asked Jesus to come into my life.' 

He said for a previous CBS documentary, "You have to have my conversion in there." I can't understand why director Angelina Jolie takes Louie's transforming hope out of the movie. Others need the same hope that not only delivers personally, but transforms relationships. 

By gospel grace he forgives his captors. Even though Mr. Watanabe refuses to see him, Louie seeks him out to forgive him.

This movie has great meaning to me, because my father also fought in World War 2 and hated the Japanese. But by the gospel, he also learned to love his enemies. My father ended up serving in Japan as a missionary close to 50 years.

Read more: Broken: The Power of Conversion in Louie Zamperini’s Life | TGC | The Gospel Coalition

Watch "Unbroken" Official Trailer  Angelina Jolie Directed  - YouTube

Read the book Amazon.com: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption: Laura Hillenbrand