In an age where heroes are becoming more and more scarce and “reality” TV shows artificially manufacture “survivors” for the masses to cheer on, the world just lost one of the genuine survivors from the “greatest generation.” Louis Silvie "Louie" Zamperini died on July 2, 2014 at the age of 97, just months before the release of a major film about his life. Unbroken, which debuts on Christmas day 2014, is directed by Angelina Jolie and is based on the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (2010), written by Laura Hillenbrand. While the life of Louie Zamperini is one of the most inspirational ever told, I can’t help but think that if Louie had seen the Angelina Jolie directed film (he had only seen short rough cuts before his death), it would have broken his huge heart.

Louie the Poor Gang Banger

To be sure, making a biographical movie on Louie’s eventful life would not be an easy task. While it would be one thing to leave important aspects of such a dramatic life story out, all things being equal, it is an altogether different thing to leave the most important and meaningful aspects of a person’s life out, especially if motivated by ideological bias or financial gain.

As a child, Louie grew up poor, enduring many of the hardships of the great depression. In his teens Louie was filled with energy and mischief, which led to a life of crime and with Louie becoming a gang leader. Louie especially loved ripping off alcohol from bootleggers because they couldn’t incriminate themselves by reporting his thefts to the police! After a number of run-ins with the law, Louie’s brother, Pete, noted how easily he outran the police and encouraged him to put his ability to a less destructive endeavor, telling him to join the high school track team.

Louie on the Run

In his first track meet, Louie came in last place. This motivated his brother Pete into becoming his personal trainer. One of Pete’s bright ideas was to motivate Louie to dig deep and go the extra mile by riding a bicycle behind him and whipping him with a switch when he slowed down. Louie eventually learned it would be easier to be self-disciplined rather than rely on his brother’s heavy hand. After setting high school cross-country records, Louie won a scholarship to run track for USC. Louie’s God-given talent and self-discipline paid dividends in a collegiate race where other runners had conspired to rough him up to ensure he wouldn’t win. While runners hemmed him in, one runner repeatedly dragged his spikes against Louie’s shins, gashing his skin until his socks were filled with blood. Another runner elbowed Louie so hard he fractured his rib. Rather than give in, Louie sprinted for the finish line and pulled ahead to victory. Louie not only won the race, but also broke the national collegiate record for the mile! Before he left college, Louie became a two-time NCAA champion miler, which paved his way to represent the United States in the 5,000 meters at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In the 1936 Olympic trials, Louie ended up tying the World Record for the 5,000-meter and finished one race with a 56-second lap.

Louie in The Air

Though Louie did not medal in the Berlin Olympics, he got the attention of a certain Fuehrer named Adolph Hitler, who requested to meet "The boy with the fast finish." Louie would end up shaking the hand of the man who, just a few years later, would have hands stained with the blood of over 50 million people, including the six million Jews. After WWII broke out, in his desire to stop Hitler and the Nazi’s, Louie joined the United States Air Corps and became a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator. While flying a Search & Rescue mission in the Pacific, Louie’s plane was shot down and crashed into the ocean. While eight of Louie’s comrades perished in the crash, Louie and two others survived, yet were lost at sea.

Louie Lost at Sea

Confined to a life raft, Louie would now have to survive severe dehydration and starvation. Add to this that he also had to fend off hungry sharks and avoid being shot and killed by enemy planes. Louie, on the verge of death by dehydration, prayed passionately to the Lord, pledging that if He would bring rain, he would dedicate his life to Him and serve Him. Each time he prayed in desperation the heavens opened up and it poured and poured. Louie stated that on three different occasions he offered such prayers and he was answered with rainfall each time. One of his crewmates (Francis “Mac” McNamara) lasted 33 of the 47 days lost at sea before he succumbed to death. Louie and his friend “Phil” (Russell Allen Phillips) fought to survive as they drifted 2,000 miles before being “rescued”/captured by the Japanese.

Louie the POW

After being declared dead in the United States, Louie would suffer as a Prisoner of War in Japanese internment camps where he was repeatedly beaten, tortured and starved on a nearly daily basis. Much of this torture came at the brutal hands of a wicked man known as “The Bird,” who was infamous during World War II because of his cruelty! Louie’s once healthy body became diseased and his weight dropped to a meager 66 pounds. While in prison, Louie memorized the identity of several men who had scrawled their names on his cell before they were taken to execution, in the hopes of notifying their families should he one day be set free. Under severe torture and repeated threats of decapitation, Louie sought to keep hope alive by thinking of the future and repeating his earlier pledge, praying “Lord, bring me back safely from the war and I’ll seek You and serve You.”

Louie the War Hero

When the war ended, Louie returned home to a heroe’s welcome. As horrific as his wartime experiences were, Louie had no idea that his greatest challenges were not in his past, but just around the corner. Louie got caught up in partying and celebrating his victories, and quickly forgot his pledge to serve God if he were set free. Instead of giving his life to the Lord, he turned to a life of wanton indulgence, carousing and drunkenness. Louie said that in “Ignoring the future and the past,” that “I drank and danced and gorged myself, and forgot to thank anyone, including God, for my being alive…I completely dismissed my promises because no one could remind me of them except myself.”

Louie’s Greatest Trials

Louie’s problems were compounded as he suffered severe PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder). Louie was haunted by unrelenting nightmares of the infamous “Bird” torturing him that traumatized him through the night. During his waking hours, Louie was consumed with an intense hatred for his captors and a daily desire for revenge, which led him to fantasize about finding and brutally murdering “The Bird.”

Even though Louie had been able to conquer nearly every obstacle placed before him as a track star, a castaway, and a POW, he was unable to defeat what proved to be the greatest challenges of his life. Louie was caught in a downward spiral where hatred and alcoholism begat more and more of each and he saw no end in site. No amount of digging deep or physical discipline could win the day, because his greatest battles were not physical, but spiritual. Indeed, Louie claimed that his greatest challenge was not running a 56 second lap, surviving on a raft for 47 days or even enduring torture at the hands of the infamous “Bird.” He stated:

“I think the hardest thing in life is to forgive. Hate is self-destructive. If you hate somebody, you’re not hurting the person you hate, you’re hurting yourself. It’s a healing, actually [to forgive], it’s a real healing…forgiveness.” –Louis Zamparini, Devil at My Heels: A Heroic Olympian’s Astonishing Story of Survival as a Japanese POW in World War II

Louie’s Greatest Victory

On the verge of a tragic divorce and without the ability or answers to defeat the spiritual giants that were killing him, Louie reluctantly agreed to go to a Christian crusade with his wife. Half way through the message he left feeling angry, defensive and condemned. However, Louie humbled himself and returned a second time to hear more. Even though he felt like running away a second time, he remembered how he had broken the pledge that he made while lost at sea. He saw himself on his life raft dying of thirst and rain suddenly dropping from heaven in answer to his prayers. Louie, convicted of his sins, fell to his knees, crying out to God “forgive me for not having kept the promises I’d made during the war, and for my sinful life.” Louie said, “I made no excuses.” Louie embraced Jesus Christ and the sacrificial death that Jesus died on the cross in payment for his sins. Even as God had opened up the heavens just in time in answer to his prayers when Louie was dying in the Pacific, Louie once again experienced a flood of God’s love and mercy in the nick of time! Louie had been born again and experienced the new birth and the miraculous power he needed to defeat the giants that he couldn’t overcome in the flesh.

Louie’s New Heart

Louie stated that he was instantly healed and experienced an “enveloping calm.” Jesus had saved his marriage and his life. He rejoiced because the horrific nightmares associated with his PTSD were miraculously gone, literally over night! For the first time in years he was able to sleep like a baby and not see visions of “The Bird” torturing him. Louie turned from his sin and poured his alcohol down the kitchen sink. The hatred that he had allowed to consume his life was also gone and was replaced with a God-given love for his enemies, including even “The Bird.” Louie longed to share His new-found love and His faith in Christ with others, including the soldiers who had tortured him as a POW. He flew to Japan, this time, not as a bomber seeking vengeance, but as a new man, an ambassador for Christ, seeking to share the love and forgiveness found in Jesus. Louie met with the Japanese soldiers who tortured him and shared with them how Christ had changed his life. He told them that he forgave them and then embraced and hugged them, sharing the forgiveness that they too could receive from God Himself. Sadly, unlike the others who had tortured him, the “The Bird” refused meet with Louie.

Louie’s story of a hateful and destructive heart being transformed with the forgiveness and mercy of God is somewhat mirrored in another World War II hero, Corrie Ten Boom, who was imprisoned in a concentration camp along with members of her family for hiding Jews during the holocaust. Millions through her book The Hiding Place, which was also produced into a movie by the same name, have heard her story. Corrie, too, experienced the miraculous power of God’s love and forgiveness when a Nazi guard asked for her forgiveness. Corrie said, “I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.” Sadly, millions will not learn how to find forgiveness for their own sins through Christ or how to forgive others in Angelina Jolie’s version of Louie’s incredible story.

Louie the Square Peg in a Round Hole

Louie’s life story is quite remarkable and we have only sketched out some of the highlights. When one hears Louie’s personal account of his life story, in his own words, one finds that his faith in Christ, rather than being a minor postscript to a war torn life, is by far and away what he viewed as the most dramatic and meaningful feature of his life’s journey. On the other hand, Louie viewed his war time experiences as a mere prologue to his biggest challenges and victories over sin, including alcoholism, unforgiveness, anger and the hatred he had felt for his Japanese torturers. It was only in finding Jesus that Louie ultimately found victory over sin, bondage, death and the devil. It was in coming to Christ that Louie found healing for the gaping spiritual wound that consumed his life! Before Louie was saved he claimed that with all his worldly success, he still felt like “the proverbial square peg who couldn’t fit into the round hole…” Louie found that the answer was not in himself or in rigorous discipline, but in a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ! Finally, all the pieces fit together and, rather than feeling like a square peg in a round hole, the vacuum of emptiness that only new hatred and fear was filled with the love of Jesus and the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).

Louie’s Personal Testimony

Those I have talked to who knew Louie, including relatives, all made it clear that Louie was all about Jesus. Louie prolifically passed out his personal biography, The Devil at My Heels, because he wanted people to find Jesus, just as he had! One person shared with me, through tears, how Louie had reached out to him before he retired as  a retired CHP officer and led him to Christ. Louie even helped him move into his house and paid for a subscription to a Christian magazine to keep him focused on Christ. Louie became a lifetime friend, always encouraging him in Jesus.

Unfortunately, as powerful and moving as Louie Zamperini’s story is, the most moving and profound part of the story has been excised from Louie’s life in Jolie’s Unbroken. It would be easy to show Louie’s life spinning out of control with haunting nightmares, alcoholism and PTSD, drawing attention to a huge problem that is tragically overlooked in the world. His conversion and transformation, along with the saving of his marriage and subsequent trip to Japan to forgive his captors, would move millions to tears!

Louie’ Lost Legacy

Angelina Jolie’s version of the story will not include the glorious transformation that took place in Louie’s life as a result of his faith in Jesus Christ. Even though the movie purports to be based on Laura Hillenbrand’s book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption, the glorious redemptive aspect of the book and his life story have been tragically expunged! Hillenbrand’s book, though not as detailed as Louie’s personal biography (The Devil at My Heels), where he tells his story in his own words, still uses the last 30 pages of her book to describe Louie’s conversion and transformation.

While Universal Pictures reportedly held the movie rights to Louie Zamperini’s life story for more than 50 years, the movie would prove to be a challenge for various Hollywood directors. Because they knew that Louie deemed the most important and dramatic part of his life to be his salvation from sin and certain death that he experienced through the gospel and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. As beautiful as redemption in Christ is, as we have seen all too often, narratives which give glory to God – movies which inspire morality and family values – are not the stories that Hollywood wants to tell, even if millions more would flock to the theaters to see them!

According to an L.A. Times story, Jolie faced the challenge of other directors in regard to Louie’s story. While facing the question about what to leave in and what to take out, Jolie claims to have been awakened at 2:00 a.m. with a “vision” containing the answer to her problem. The answer she received in her “vision” was to scrub Louie Zamperini’s life changing transformation through faith in Jesus Christ. According to the L.A. Times story, Jolie told Donna Langley, chairman of Universal Pictures, that her version of the story would end with Zamperini’s liberation as a POW and would not include his bout with alcoholism and his dramatic conversion to Christ. Jolie’s version of Louie’s story would essentially end where Louie believed his story really begins!

While there are some generic references to God in the trailer and a slide at the end of the movie highlighting the fact that Louie’s faith was important to him, they seem more designed to market the film to Christians and string them along, rather than pointers to the most glorious part of his life story, which was lost on the editor’s floor. As sad as it is, it seems that Jolie exploited a very old Louie Zamperini before he died and used the film to tell her humanistic version of his story, rather than Louie’s version.

Louie’s Legacy Retold

Jolie claims that Louie Zamperini, who was her neighbor before his death, had an incredible impact on her life. She saw that he was filled with peace and joy and knew that there was something missing in her own life. She said “What am I supposed to be doing with my life, I wanna do something important…I need some help. I need some guidance,” and that Louie Zamperini “helped me so much in my life.” –Angelina Jolie, NBC’s Today Show, February 25, 2014

Unfortunately, when Jolie was asked what she hopes the audience will take away from Unbroken, she gave a humanistic answer and said, “For my children and for everybody in the room, I want to be able to say, ‘It can seem dark and it can seem hopeless and it can seem very overwhelming, but the resilience and the strength of the human spirit is an extraordinary thing.’” (Ibid) Jolie is using Louie’s life as a lesson in human potential when in fact Louie learned that human potential can only take one so far. Humans have an incredible potential for the greatest evils and only God can ultimately deliver us from sin, death and hell. Jolie spoke of Louie’s incredible ability to endure and later to forgive, but missed the fact that Louie could not just dig deep and make it happen, but could only forgive after He himself experienced it miraculously first hand, from a loving and all powerful God. A God who not only gave him an example through the cross of Christ, but supplied the power of His Holy Spirit to enable such forgiveness. Unfortunately, Jolie missed the central point of Louie’s life. Even before he was born again, he began to cry out to God for help and strength, whether it was when he was lost at sea or tortured as a POW. It was only through a relationship with Jesus Christ that he overcame his sin, his addictions, his profound hatred and his PTSD.

Jolie seems to have put her own humanistic, new agey spin on the movie, which seems to teach that the answers to life’s problems are within. She has said, “There doesn’t need to be a God for me. There’s something in people that’s spiritual, that’s godlike.” (Source). Jolie turning Louie’s message into salvation through humanism or through tapping into one’s own divinity is thoroughly undoing the gospel in this movie.

Louie’s Story Rife with Irony

There are several ironies in Jolie’s version of the story. One being that most often Hollywood movies – even non-fiction movies – are embellished with falsehoods added to make a movie more dramatic. However, in Unbroken’s case the most dramatic and moving part of the story is actually true, but has been cut out!

Another sad irony is that this movie is largely targeted to a Christian audience and due to be released on December 25th, the date when millions of Christians celebrate the birth of our Savior and Redeemer into the world. The irony is that just as Jesus was not welcomed by many at His birth, and was born in a stable because there was no room for him in the Inn (Luke 2:1-7; John 1:9-12), and just as Jesus is increasingly left out of Christmas celebrations – with people even afraid to say “Merry Christmas” – He has been left out of one of the most inspirational stories of recent times, when Louie knew He was the central figure. Sadly, I can’t help but think that if Louie had become a Muslim or a Buddhist, rather than a Christian, that it would have been included and celebrated in the movie.

Another irony is that the title of the book, as well as the movie, Unbroken, is a misnomer, when the whole story in considered. In fact, the movie could have been entitled “Totally…,” “Finally…” or “Wholly Broken,” if the whole story had been told. While Louie was unbroken physically, he had been severely broken morally as a result of his own sin and the wickedness perpetrated against him. He had to acknowledge this brokenness before God before He could actually be “fixed” or saved. Louie, having returned from the war a hero, had hardened his heart against God and ignored his pledge to serve Him if he were set free. As he heard many of the well-deserved accolades, he was filled with pride and failed to give God glory for saving Him. When he first heard the gospel, at the crusade he accompanied his wife to, he hardened his heart even more.

Louie from Unbroken to Wholly Broken

Thankfully, the second time he attended the crusade he was truly broken. He hit his knees and humbled himself before the thrice-holy God. God’s Word is clear that unless we are broken and humble ourselves before God, we cannot receive His grace and be saved. Many scriptures speak of the importance of being broken and humbled before God:

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” –Psalm 51:17

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” –Psalm 34:18

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” –Psalm 147:3

“Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD Until He comes to rain righteousness on you.” –Hosea 10:12

“For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, "Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns.” –Jeremiah 4:3

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” –Matthew 18:1-3

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” –1 Peter 5:6-7

We can choose to either fall on the Lord and be broken and remade by Him or to reject the Lord and have him crush us to dust in the end:

“And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” –Matthew 21:44

It was only in the glorious moment when Louie was finally broken before God and fell to His knees that he experienced the glory and joy of being set free!

Louie and the Rest of the Story

While many will, at best, get an incomplete picture of Louie’s life and, at worst, a humanistic, new agey message of human potential, rather than our need for Jesus, we as Christians would be wise to use what the enemy would love to use for evil and use it for good. May the Lord lead us to use this movie as a discussion starter to tell folks “the rest of the story” concerning Louie’s remarkable life and share what it means to be born again!

I want to encourage our ministry partners and friends to use Louie’s story as an opportunity to share Christ with a lost and spiritually dead world, because heaven knows we cannot, and should not, depend on Hollywood or Universal Pictures to do our work for us! Perhaps you can encourage those who are amazed by Louie’s story to read the rest of the story in his book The Devil on My Heels or in Hillenbrand’s book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. You can also easily share this article on Facebook or print it out for people to read a short version of Louie’s story so they can read the message of the gospel. Their own story can change, just like Louie’s, forever! Share your own testimony regarding what Jesus has done in your own life; this is the way millions have been saved in each generation (Revelation 12:11).

Also, pray that God would further convict Angelina Jolie, who has definitely heard the gospel and struggled with it through her making of the movie. Pray that she would come to saving faith before her time is up, before she stands before the Lord and goes into a Christless eternity. Those on the set with Jolie during the production of Unbroken claimed that she got on her knees and prayed for the weather to change so they could shoot a final scene. When asked why she prayed, she said that she did what she knew Louie would do. While this could be chalked up to an advertising ploy or could have been real, the apostle Paul stated that we are to pray for everyone, because God wills that all be saved and Jesus gave His life as a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:1-6).

Thankfully, even Hollywood stars like Agelina Jolie can see that they are missing true joy and spirituality and can see it in Christians like Louis Zamperini. Deep down they know they are lost. Even Jolie’s husband, Brad Pitt, who has claimed to be “probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic,” admitted:

“Man, I know all these things are supposed to seem important to us: the car, condo, our version of success. I say toss all this. We gotta find something else. But all I know is at this point in time, we are heading for a dead end, a numbing of the soul, a complete atrophy of the spiritual being. I don’t want that. The emphasis now is on success and personal gain. I am telling you that is not it. I am telling you I am the guy who’s got everything, but once you’ve got everything, then you’re just left with yourself.” –Brad Pitt, Rolling Stone Magazine, October 28, 1999

If you have not yet been saved, this would be a great time to acknowledge your own brokenness before God and your need for Jesus. Simply turn to Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty for our sins with His sacrificial death on the cross. Turn from the broad road that leads to hell and embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and He will give you the power of His Holy Spirit to live the life He has called you to live. Jesus said:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” –Matthew 7:13-14

May the Lord bless you and give us the grace and courage to honor and exalt Jesus in an increasingly godless world!