Interview with Luke Zamperini Son of Louis Zamerini, The Power Of God Featured In Unbroken

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Luke Zamperini, the son of Louis Zamperini, the subject of the movie Unbroken directed by Angelina Jolie. I wanted to find out a few things about his father and the father son relationship among a few other things. This wonderful movie represents a man who in the end was a man of strong faith and faith convictions. The following is the transcript from the time with Luke Zamperini.  

Luke Zamberini (LZ) - Hey Mike

Mike Furches (MF) - Hey Luke, how are you doing?

LZ - I'm doing well, how are you?

MF - I'm doing wonderful. I saw the movie several weeks ago and to be honest didn't know the story. Your dad was an incredible man.

LZ - Well thank you very much.

MF - What kinds of lessons and things did he teach the kids as you were growing up?

LZ - Well, first of all he didn't have a hard time talking about his story with us. Those stories were my bedtime stories growing up. Of course my dad was my hero because he was my dad and as I begin to learn more about his story it just became more and more evident that he was a different kind of dad than the dad of my friends. The things he would pass down to us was primarily an attitude having a cheerful continence at all times, always looking at the bright side and never giving up or giving in. To always perceiver to achieve your goal. Most importantly what he taught me was a love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That changed his life and eventually changed mine as well.

MF - I noticed in some of the press materials that you are a musician as well.

LZ - Yeah I dabble in some music. I made the decision for Jesus as a child but I grew up in the 1960's in Hollywood California and so that presented some challenges so I just kind of got lost in the world of Rock N Roll and played the guitar and did all of that but eventually when I was 29 I kind of threw off the desire to be a part of that culture and returned to my Christian roots. I was blessed with a wonderful family, a wife and a great job. I do still play music but just as a hobby.

MF - I'm a musician as well so had to ask that. I have a lot of friends in Southern California who are musicians as well. One of the things I wanted to ask about though, and I don't know if a lot of folks have is about the camp that was started in honor and recognition of your dad. I am assuming the camp is still in existence. can you tell us some about it?

LZ -  Sure, Victory Boys Camp was established by my father in 1954. It started out with a physical location in the mountains north of Los Angeles. He would take kids from reform schools up there and teach them mountaineering skills and outdoor skills. He would try to win their confidence to better influence them in their lives. The camp has changed over the decades and it eventually ended up being wherever Louie Zamperini was with kids and where he could help him, that was Victory Boys Camp. We actually lost the physical location and he would sometimes use Mammoth Mountain or Squaw Valley or some other resort would offer their facilities. So for Victory Boys Camp we figured would go away when my father died and that was the plan, that we would just discontinue the camp. However, a year ago we had found a young man who really needed some help so we took him to see my dad and Victory Boys Camp was able to finance this young mans journey to Australia to go to a youth mission camp down there. That helped to turn him around. He was a Christian boy who had gotten involved in drugs. They turned him around though and sent him on a mission. We thought, this is too wonderful of an opportunity to pass up, we need to keep Victory Boys Camp going. What's happened is that my 28 year old son Clay has decided to take the camp over so he is now the CEO of Victory Boys Camp. We are now trying to raise the money to get another facility and to continue the work that my dad did over the last seven decades of helping others find a better way in life through Christian teachings.

MF - The film shows the power to overcome and beyond resilient. Where do you think that power came from for your dad? Whether overcoming the issues of his youth, making the Olympic team, being lost at sea or overcoming what he went through as a POW?

LZ -  My dad was a very resourceful and very defiant individual growing up. He turned himself around by getting into sports as a 15-year-old but he still kept that defiant spirit in him as he competed. That defiance and resourcefulness got him through the ordeal at sea, the prison camps but it couldn't get him through the post traumatic stress disorder that he was suffering from after the war. It wasn't until he walked into a tent meeting in downtown Los Angeles in 1949 that was being conducted by a new evangelist at the time, a guy named Billy Graham that he made a decision for Christ. That actually changed his heart and his defiance turned to joy and his revenge turned to love. That's what really turned him around. Up to that point, it was really just being resourceful defiant and clever, the Torrance Tornado from Torrance California.

MF - The concept of forgiveness is touched on in the movie towards the end of the film. The ability to forgive is a powerful illustration, especially towards The Bird. What would your dad say was the importance of forgiving others?

LZ - Well, he had hatred in his heart for the prison guard who was nicknamed The Bird because The Bird had singled him out and was on him daily for 27 months. His hatred for The Bird though wasn't hurting The Bird, it was hurting him, literally. It was destroying him. After he realized that God could forgive him for all of the rotten things that he had done then he realized that he needed to be able to forgive his guards and The Bird in particular as well. Having to forgive him was hard but it literally lifted him free from the destruction he was doing to himself by harboring that hatred. It was really a cathartic thing, it was good for Louie as well as a love and gesture of good for his fellow man.

MF - In my book and short movie I mention that it was me that was set free when I was able to forgive those who had done me wrong. It sounds like the same concept here.

LZ - Yeah, exactly.

MF - The film has been heavily promoted, what are your hopes that comes about for the movie?

LZ - I hope people take home from the film the power of faith and forgiveness. The film demonstrates the amount of suffering a person can endure. It also points towards the end that what really saved him was the ability to forgive those who had done him wrong. What I am really hoping is that this film will impact generations of people to consider their own situations and to look to forgive others. When they do that, it is also a way of helping themselves out.

MF - Your dad saw the film before his death. Do you think this is a part of what he wanted for it as well?

LZ - Oh, absolutely! He expressed from the very beginning that whatever shape the film took it had to include him making his promise in the life raft that if God would get him home from this ordeal that he would seek him and serve him and that he had gone back and forgiven his guards. Those two things were essential to him and Angeline did a marvelous job at getting them into the film.

MF - I appreciate it very much sir.

LZ - You're welcome and I do have a side note just for you.  The guy who played The Bird in the movie, Miyavi, he is a guitar player. This is his first attempt at acting but he is a great Japanese Guitarist.

MF - I didn't know that, I did say in my review that I thought he deserved an Academy Award nomination for his acting.

LZ - Yeah, he is really good, but look him up. You will really appreciate the way he plays guitar.

MF - I will, I am a bass player and have worked with a lot of really good guitarist over the years so I really appreciate good guitar players.

LZ - Wow, great, you can find a lot of videos of him, (Miyavi) on youtube, but thanks a lot again for having me and I appreciate it.

MF - Thanks to you as well Luke, blessings to you.

LZ - You as well Mike. 

The following is a video from CBS that remembers the Unbroken Spirit of Louis Zamperini, to see the video just click on the video, if the video doesn't appear, just click on the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyhFPqRZE9c

The Virtual Pew and our other work is supported solely by the kind contributions of others. You can click on the donate button below to give any amount to this work that does so much more than just post articles on the net; I draw no ongoing salary from the church I pastor, Mosaic Wichita which is predominantly a homeless church; I am grateful for any small amount you can contribute to help with this ministry.  Believe me there is much more going on than most realize. I will also provide information to verify the ministry and income that comes into this ministry and work.  Thanks and feel free to share any material from The Virtual Pew, I only ask that appropriate credit is given and a link to the original site with the materials provided.


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Unbroken

I love movies, so much so that on occasion I will drive 3 hours through rush hour traffic in a major city to see one. Such was the case recently when I drove to Kansas City for an advance screening of Unbroken, a film meant to inspire and reflect the power of forgiveness. A wonderful concept if you will, especially when considering the film is to be released on Christmas day.

Unbroken follows through the use of flashbacks and narrative filming to tell the story of Louis Silvie “Louie” Zamperini. An Italian American growing up in California during the 1920's and 30's. He escaped his troubled youth through track and field distance running where he went on to run in the German, (Hitler) hosted Olympics of 1936. He later joined the U.S. Air Corps where the plane he was in crashed in the Pacific Ocean where he would spend 47 days at sea prior to being 'rescued' by Japanese forces. He remained a prisoner for the duration of the war.

Unbroken is directed by Angelina Jolie and the script is written by the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan. I must give kudos to Jolie for a well crafted effort that uses little dialog, especially from the principal actors and weaves the story together rather nicely. One of the things I was not certain of though was the way the story was weaved together by what appears to be the script. I am going to say something I hope others don't take wrong, but a huge part, if not the primary part of Zamperini's life and the thing that gave him the ability to endure the difficulties he went through was his faith, while there is brief mention of this, we never hear much dialog about it in the film. Instead the movie depends largely on images to present his ability to remain Unbroken. I have to wonder if the script writers and direction in the film truly understood the importance of this in Zamperini's life as it isn't evident to the viewer until the closing scenes where we see written narration on screen? This doesn't mean there aren't impressive qualities about the film, there absolutely is and in many ways the movie comes across as a reminder to the human ability to overcome. It shows the strength of a man, in an alluded way, through faith in a kind of Passion of the Christ movie kind of way without the bloody violence as displayed in The Passion of the Christ. It isn't to say Unbroken isn't emotional though, there was one lady during one particular scene in the theater I was in that had to literally run out of the theater weeping because she could not deal with what she was seeing on screen. There is brutality expressed in a haunting, and if you will, from a filmmaking perspective beautiful way. I would have just liked to have seen the character dealing with his faith through the process as it was a part of what made the man in real life who he was.

The two primary leads in the film do a surprisingly good job since they are not well known in film
circles as lead actors. Jack O'Connell does a very nice job in the lead roll of Zamperini. He actually has very little dialog and has to tell his story primarily through narration and living out the scenes on screen. His facial expressions and what times he does use dialog are very impressive though. The other example of little dialog from the actor is Takamasa Ishihara who plays the part of Mutsushiro Watanabe, known to the prisoners of war as The Bird, the overseer of the prisons where Zamperini spent his time during incarceration. Ishihara is so good I will be surprised if he doesn't receive an Academy Award nomination. The Bird was a brutal man who literally had Zamperini live through Hell on earth. The acting, all the way around, with no major movie stars is very good. Unbroken based on the quality of filmmaking alone, complete with cinematography, sound, etc... is worth seeing. I have to wonder though, will a story of this type, released on Christmas day, be well received?

Zamperini was a deeply spiritual man who made it very clear in his life that his faith and commitment specifically to Jesus Christ was what enabled him to remain unbroken during his time at sea and while imprisoned in Japan. Yet, while we see glimpses of this, allusion if you will, we don't have clarity as to that in the film. The imagery is definitely there though, from the struggles of a young man growing up in a deeply religious family, attending church, losing focus during church to ultimately being inspired by those around him through their faith in God. We even see him in a desperate situation, which resonates with the way it was for him to make a commitment to God while in a dangerous place. Here, he isn't just asking for spiritual salvation, he is asking for salvation from the situation he is in. We also see Zamperini in an almost supernatural way have the strength to endure and overcome situations that most of us watching wonder how could he overcome?

While a prisoner of war movie, Unbroken resonates with what I believe is the greatest illustration of the power of Christianity and faith in a movie I have seen on the topic, the 2001 movie, To End All Wars, starring Kiefer Sutherland. I have to compare these films because they seem to be so close in intent. To surmise the two; one, To End All Wars, is a great movie, Unbroken is a very good movie. I personally appreciated the intentional, and clear reminder of the importance and struggle with faith in To End All Wars much more as it seems a a more honest approach to the struggle one may go through in these situations.

Unbroken is however a powerful reminder of the need to overcome, especially for people who profess to believe in a God that gives the ability to overcome. It is a powerful reminder of the need to love, without retaliation and the powerful witness that can display for others. While watching the film one quickly sees what a hero is. Zamperini was undoubtedly a hero who was given strength by God to endure and overcome. In his ability to endure, there is no doubt of his witness to the strength and power of God but also the inspiration it gave others who witnessed what he went through. Unbroken, clearly on the topic of inspiration, gives clear witness to the ability of God to change a human life. From a young boy who wouldn't give up the fight, to a man dedicated to God who in the end, refused to fight in order that he may save lives, Zamperini was clearly a man who experienced God in his life, whether the film clearly speaks to that point or not.

Many from reading my review may think I didn't think highly of Unbroken, that is a mistake. It is a worthy film and one I believe that if thinking of the attributes of faith and what gives the strength to maintain that faith. If reminded of these concepts prior to seeing the movie one can clearly see the inspiration the movie can provide, even on Christmas day. Otherwise, as good as it is, it is also a message that could be overlooked by those seeing the film. I suspect the diehard, gun toting, blow the hell out of them 'christians' will take issue with the concepts of peace and nonviolence portrayed in the film, especially the efforts of Zamperini after the war but it is what it is. The mans life inspired multitudes, not by the act of war but the willingness to love and respond to violence with non violence. A concept many Christians have forgotten about, but an example once again, portrayed in a powerful way on screen. It is hard to forget about the sacrifices of men of this era, especially men like Zamperini, a true hero, who in the end, practiced forgiveness and love, not retaliation, certainly not in his personal life. While he understood the role of governments if you will, he also showed, by his actions and words, that he also understood the role of loving others and forgiveness as a bi-product of his faith. That is also a reminder for each person to consider, on the release of the film on Christmas day which celebrates the birth of the one called, The Prince of Peace.

I do feel compelled to make a closing comment, apparently according to the book, and comments by Zamperin, his conversion to Christ did not come until after WW2 via a Billy Graham Crusade. That said, the review is from the presentation of the film, but I think appropriate to get that concept worth mentioning to give the man the respect he deserves for the things he went through. I still think the review is appropriate though as to impression this reviewer felt and experienced from the movie. 

While not perfect and falling just short of To End All Wars in my humble opinion, this is a very good, well worth watching, confrontation of faith in action movie. For that reason, for the number of letters in Zamperini, I give a very deserved 9 on a scale of 1 - 10

The following is a short documentary on the Real Louis Zamperini, to see the video simply click on the video, if that doesn't work, click on the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEGL-wyz1yk



The Virtual Pew and our other work is supported solely by the kind contributions of others. You can click on the donate button below to give any amount to this work that does so much more than just post articles on the net; I draw no ongoing salary from the church I pastor, Mosaic Wichita which is predominantly a homeless church; I am grateful for any small amount you can contribute to help with this ministry.  Believe me there is much more going on than most realize. I will also provide information to verify the ministry and income that comes into this ministry and work.  Thanks and feel free to share any material from The Virtual Pew, I only ask that appropriate credit is given and a link to the original site with the materials provided.


Click here to read about, and order the book, The Keystone Kid 


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