Unbroken

[Ysabel Kid]

Took the whole family, including Mrs. YK, to see "Unbroken" this afternoon. I read the book earlier this year, and coudn't wait to see the movie, though I couldn't imagine how they'd fit in the whole story and wondered if they'd do it justice.

The movie was good. The book is better, but I was impressed with the acting, how they told the story, as much of the story they covered (most of it), and the accurate description of the cruelty Louie Zamperini experienced at the hands of the Japanese while a prisoner of war. I really suspected that Hollywood would go "PC" and tone it down too much.

I was nice to get my wife out to the movies. I take the kids out a bunch, but my wife can't stand sci-fi, the super-hero flicks, or fantasy (like the Hobbit), and I won't waste my time and money seeing other movies at the theater, so it was nice to find a movie we could all go to and enjoy.

Great story. Read the book - you'll really like it!

[EdinCT]

I have a friend who is 96 years old that was on bombers in the Pacific theater and several years ago he told me if I wanted to understand what they went through I should read that book. I did and was really moved\stunned, but more than that I am awed by the forgiveness that they gave to the Japanese who persecuted them, after the war ended. My friend said the country needed to heal, my late father however wouldn't let my wife park her Honda on his grass!

[plowboy 45]

Sounds like y'all had a good time

[AJMD429]

My friend said the country needed to heal, my late father however wouldn't let my wife park her Honda on his grass!

You should have seen my brother's father-in-law when he found out his own Ford had more parts of it made in Japan than our relative's Honda did...

[rossim92]

My friend said the country needed to heal, my late father however wouldn't let my wife park her Honda on his grass!

You should have seen my brother's father-in-law when he found out his own Ford had more parts of it made in Japan than our relative's Honda did...

thats means when they ask your brother's father-in-law what he drives, he needs to reply
フォード .

[Rusty]

The last two war movies I saw were "Fury" and "The Monuments Men." I thought both were well done. In Fury I liked the attention to detail on the weapons used. I'd like to know what made George Cloney so dedicated to getting the story out about the Monuments Men.

As for cars, I got into a discussion about that several years ago. I asked my uncle Which "foreign" car he didn't like. My Ford that was made in Canada or my Nissan made in Tenn.?

[horsesoldier03]

Definitely a movie on my list to see. Like you, my list of movies is typically a very short list. I am looking forward to this one.

[stretch]

I got the book as a Christmas present last year from my sister. It's
great - well-written and impeccably researched. The author is also a woman,
which is somewhat unusual for this genre. Read it - it's amazing.

I'm now reading "A Higher Call" by Adam Makos. This is a story about a
Greman fighter pilot who escorted a crippled B-17 out of German airspace
over the flak guns of Bremen. It's an incredible story, and a great history of
the decline and fall of the Luftwaffe during WWII. The German pilot's name
was Franz Stigler and the bomber pilot's name was Charlie Brown. Again, it's
impeccably researched, pretty well-written, and the story is absolutely
mesmerizing. Sign it out of your local library today - it's well worth the time
to read it.

Hey Kid - sorry - I didn't mean to hijack your thread!

-Stretch

[gamekeeper]

Thanks for the "heads up" BTW Jay, your wife's taste in movies sound very similar to mine....

[Charles]

I very much admire the forgiveness express in that book and others like Railroad Man. The cruelty and brutality of the Japanese to their prisoners is almost beyond belief. I am not sure I could forgive at that level but I would hope I could. Thankfully that will forever be an unanswered question for me.

My father and my wife's father both served in the Pacific Theater during WWII and they were never fans of Japan, the Japanese or Japanese culture. Neither of them were taken prisoner and got to kill the ones in front of them that held rifles and such.

The Japanese have never owned up to their war time atrocities, but continue to honor and respect those who did these horrible things.

[Blaine]

Rarely mentioned is that Japan held Korea as a slave state from 1911 until the end of WWII (When the Koreas were divided...as was so much of the world...by Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill....Stalin got choice pickings because of his part in WWII...sickening)

[Ysabel Kid]

I got the book as a Christmas present last year from my sister. It's
great - well-written and impeccably researched. The author is also a woman,
which is somewhat unusual for this genre. Read it - it's amazing.

I'm now reading "A Higher Call" by Adam Makos. This is a story about a
Greman fighter pilot who escorted a crippled B-17 out of German airspace
over the flak guns of Bremen. It's an incredible story, and a great history of
the decline and fall of the Luftwaffe during WWII. The German pilot's name
was Franz Stigler and the bomber pilot's name was Charlie Brown. Again, it's
impeccably researched, pretty well-written, and the story is absolutely
mesmerizing. Sign it out of your local library today - it's well worth the time
to read it.

Hey Kid - sorry - I didn't mean to hijack your thread!

No need to apologize - I just added "A Higher Call" to my reading list!

I prefer reading books I can hold in my hand, but must admit, I have begun reading some books I have downloaded. With as much as I travel, this is just more convenient. I downloaded "Unbroken" to my tablet using the Kindle app. The nice thing about the Kindle app is that it syncs automatically to any other device you have the app loaded on. In my case, I have it loaded on my Smartphone. We've all heard of, and probably read, books you "can't put down". "Unbroken" was one of them. in fact, I actually ended up reading 75% of it on my phone! No wonder I now need glasses! I literally couldn't put it down, and would read a page or two every chance I would get!

-Stretch

[Ray Newman]

Charles & Blaine: BINGO!

[Blaine]

Charles & Blaine: BINGO!

If I recall correctly, the USSR wanted Japan in the worst way. We had to lock down the dang thing to keep them out. I'm not sure they even had a seat at the war criminal trials...

[Ray Newman]

Something that most people do not realize: the USSR declared war on Japan on August 9, 1945.....

[Old Time Hunter]

Something that most people do not realize: the USSR declared war on Japan on August 9, 1945.....

People also forget that Russia had a treaty in place since Manchuria.

Russia treated our military as POW's until August 9th 1945, and absconded with our equipment in the Pacific War.

[Rusty]

Could someone that saw this movie answer something for me? What is the language like in it? Is there a lot of cursing? I know it's a war movie and all, but my sister in law told me tonight that she'd like to go see it but she doesn't like bad language in a movie.

Thanks,

[Ysabel Kid]

Could someone that saw this movie answer something for me? What is the language like in it? Is there a lot of cursing? I know it's a war movie and all, but my sister in law told me tonight that she'd like to go see it but she doesn't like bad language in a movie.

Thanks,

Just asked my wife, because I didn't remember much if any cursing. She couldn't remember any either. Maybe a word or two, but certainly nothing excessive.

[Rusty]

Thanks Jay. Happy New Year and watch that back.

[C. Cash]

A great read. It was neat to see him honored as the honorary Grand Marshall of the Tournament of the Roses parade as well.

[Gaucho Gringo]

In my fathers book on the Marines history in the Pacific war (he was there) was a photograph of a smiling native Solomon Islander holding the decapitated head of a Japanese soldier with half of his face blown away in one hand and his machete in the other hand. When I asked him about it he said it was a justifiable revenge for all the atrocities that the Japanese had inflicted on the islanders. All he said was he had seen too much. I was 10 or 11 at the time.

[vancelw]

I snuck off to the matinee to see 'Unbroken' today. Did the wife a favor since she's not so crazy about war movies.

I did have the impression it was toned down a bit. It was still effective, though. If they showed us what those POWs had to go through for real, the movie would be rated NC-17 and it would kill it's revenue stream.
There were two women sitting behind me. In a scene where you can hear a Japanese guard beating a prisoner, they started snickering! I can only guess that they were confused and unaware about what was going on. It was all I could do to not turn around and shush them A few moments later, the abuse was obvious and their snickers turned to gasps. If Jolie had shown the true level of abuse, those poor ladies might have done fell out in the floor....

I heard a few 4-letter words. It wasn't f-bombed all the way through like some movies. (so yes, toned down a bit) War sequences, fecal matter, vomit, blisters, blood, filth....so don't let a few prime time TV cuss words keep you away.

Biggest surprise of all....the Coen brothers wrote the screenplay. Never would have guessed it and would have lost the bet.
Good movie. Definitely not an "escape reality" flick and probably not one I'll want to watch again anytime soon. But good.

It's funny (odd, ironic...) though. Earlier today I was surfing the interweb for some rifle information. Saw a discussion about Japanese rifle and lots of folks sermonizing on how silly people were for not liking Mirokus and Howas when they liked Sakos and Tikkas just fine Don't get me wrong. I own a LOT of Miroku made guns, as well as Howa and Weatherby. But the Finns didn't torture our grandfathers and fathers. As A kid, I remember hearing the men gripping vehemently about Jap cars and other products. I never understood their anger as anything other than it being non-USA made. Now that I'm older and have read so much about the war in the Pacific, I surely do understand. I wanted to bite a certain character in the movie in the throat...

[Griff]

Kept the date with the wife last nite. I'd bought the Blu-ray version of the movie several weeks ago. (Neither the wife nor I like the sticky feel of theatre carpeting). The author also wrote Seabisquit. The additional footage, background and details about the making of the movie, including interviews with Louie and his family are absolutely priceless.

[vancelw]

I just finished the book two days ago. Well worth taking the time to read.

[Panzercat]

Rarely mentioned is that Japan held Korea as a slave state from 1911 until the end of WWII (When the Koreas were divided...as was so much of the world...by Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill....Stalin got choice pickings because of his part in WWII...sickening)

Not just the Koreans. There's a lot of SE Asia that has animosity over the Japanese and how they acted during WWII. My wife is Indonesian and the Japanese were none too kind to them, either. Koreans are just outright bitter to this day over how they got treated, and it's tough to blame them, but that Japan isn't today's Japan.

Still, to anybody who thinks that dropping two atomic weapons on them was overly cruel, point them in the direction of Operation: Downfall, the Mainland Invasion of Japan. It's a truly sobering read as to just what we were expecting if the bombs failed.

Nearly 500,000 Purple Heart medals (awarded for combat casualties) were manufactured in anticipation of the casualties resulting from the invasion of Japan; the number exceeded that of all American military casualties of the 65 years following the end of World War II, including the Korean and Vietnam Wars. In 2003, there were still 120,000 of these Purple Heart medals in stock. There were so many in surplus that combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan were able to keep Purple Hearts on-hand for immediate award to soldiers wounded on the field.

[jeepnik]

In Torrance Ca, the airport is named after him. He seemed like a likable fellow, at least he put up with a pesky kid. I wonder what he would make of all the fuss?