Unbroken

Olympic runner turned Army Air Forces bombardier Louis Zamperini survives a plane crash in the Pacific, drifting on a raft for 47 days before being captured by the Japanese. He then endures years of brutal treatment in POW camps, including sadistic abuse from a guard nicknamed 'the Bird.' The film chronicles his extraordinary physical and mental endurance.

Louis Zamperini's B-24 Liberator crashed in the Pacific in May 1943; he was later held at Japanese POW camps including Omori and Naoetsu, where guard Mutsuhiro Watanabe was notorious for his cruelty. Zamperini's story became widely known through Laura Hillenbrand's biography.

Closely follows Hillenbrand's meticulously researched book, though the film covers only part of Zamperini's full postwar story of reconciliation.

The Luftwaffe attempted to win air superiority over southern England as a precondition for invasion. RAF Fighter Command, supported by the Dowding radar and control system, denied it.

Attacks moved from convoys and coastal radar to airfields, then in September switched to London — relieving pressure on Fighter Command at a critical moment. Invasion plans were postponed indefinitely in mid-September.

Directed by Angelina Jolie

Cast: Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund, Takamasa Ishihara

Positioned at 1943–1945 within the World War II phase of the war, as part of the Pacific air war and Japanese POW camps. This is entry 100 of 150 in the chronological archive.

• POW
• Pacific raft survival
• Olympic athlete
• Zamperini
• Hillenbrand biography

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  Masters of the Air

  1943–1945

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  From Here to Eternity

  Summer 1941 – 7 December 1941

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  Pearl Harbor

  7 December 1941 – 18 April 1942

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  In Harm's Way

  December 1941 – 1943

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  Wake Island

  December 8–23, 1941

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  They Were Expendable

  December 1941 – April 1942