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If you can take it, you can make it. That's the message of "Unbroken," the movie we saw this past Sunday, December 28th, at Eden Prairie Center with the kids. By "the kids" I mean daughter Jenny and her family. During their ten-hour drive from Tioga, ND, to Victoria, MN, for Christmas, they had listened to the audio book, Unbroken, the true story of a man's life from juvenile delinquent to old age. His name is Louie Zamperini. I should say his name was Louie Zamperini. He died July 2nd, 2014, at the age of 97. Maybe some of you are familiar with his life and his story. I wasn't. He was a stranger to me until I saw the movie. Now I think of him often and was compelled to go online and read more about his life. Jenny said the movie left out a lot that is in the book, understanding, of course, that any movie about anybody's life would have to leave out a lot. A lifetime doesn't even fit into a book. The movie is exceptional, mainly because Louie Zamperini is exceptional. Also because Director Angelina Jolie did an exceptional job of bringing the book by Laura Hillenbrand to life. If you can take it, you can make it. That's what older brother Pete would say to Louie as he helped train him to be a long distance runner. If Louie could take the grueling hours of practice and punishment, he could make it. Louie did make it, all the way to the Olympics. Then he joined the U.S. Army, serving from 1941 to 1945, the exact years of World War II. He was a bombardier. He was part of the crew on a bomber aircraft that tried to destroy the enemy from the air. The enemy was Japan. Louie's plane lost engines in the air fight and crashed into the sea. Only three of the eleven crew members survived. Louie, Phil, and Mac floated in a raft for a record-setting 47 days. But if Louie could take the hours and days of severe starvation, searing sun, sea storms, and sharks, he could make it. Louie and his buddy Phil did make it, only to be picked up by the enemy. A Japanese officer took a special interest in the Olympian athlete prisoner, beating and torturing him mercilessly, every day. Jenny said the book reveals even more intense torture than the movie depicts. If Louie could take the pain and persecution, he could make it. Louie did make it, all the way to the end of the War. I came away from the movie hating the vicious and depraved Japanese guards and especially the Japanese officer known as the Bird. The Bird was possessed with hatred and jealousy of Louie Zamperini. At one point in the film, the Bird looks Louie in the eye and says something like, "We're alike, me and you. We're both strong." The cruel and sadistic Bird took delight in trying to break Louie, especially with strikes to the head using belts and a bamboo rod. The Bird was a sorry excuse for a human being and he was not strong in any way that counts. But Louie was. It's the story of life, of course. If we can take it, we can make it. You and I are not dealing with the extraordinary events that deluged and nearly destroyed the life of Louie Zamperini. Few people have dealt with the challenges of an Olympian athlete. Fewer have dealt with surviving on a raft at sea. Few have dealt with torture in a prisoner of war camp. Which is why the life of Louie Zamperini became a book and a movie. But we do deal with other life events and, contrary to what we may see or think about others, nobody's life is a picnic. A picnic happens on occasion, of course, but even our picnics aren't perfect because of ants and frogs and mosquitoes. When we fold up the blanket and pack up the picnic basket, we enter back into the world of bigger problems like bears and hungry wolves. Coyotes howl at night and tell us of loneliness under the stars where little critters are snatched and devoured. We can swat the flies without much strain. We can step over the snakes and keep the mice out of the house. But hawks and other birds of prey peck at us and bruise our skin. Wild geese poop in our path. Bacteria and viruses invade human bodies and bring life threatening diseases. If we can survive the world, both the grind and the glory, and go on a picnic once in a while, we can make it to the end victoriously, like Louie Zamperini made it to VJ Day and the Allies' victory over Japan during World War II. If we can take it, we can make it. It's a message for the New Year. What a movie. What a life. What an indomitable spirit. There's much more to his life, but I'll let you discover it on your own. |
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From the Editor |
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Dedicated to the sunshine of truth, the moonshine of meeting deadlines, and the starshine of Victoria. |
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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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Sue’s Album A symphony of photos and fewer than a thousand words at www.VictoriaGazette.com |
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January 2015 |
