His postwar experiences just floored me, but I suspect they will spend less time on that than I hope they would.
If he had ended up drinking himself to death, his story would still be an amazing one, but nobody would really know about it.
That he redeemed both himself and his brutal captors, is a message to bring a fullness to the heart and tears to the eyes.
I lived in Japan and the Philippines as a kid, and when I learned about the Bataan Death March (because we lived near the route, and saw the markers on the roads) I began to read up on the allied POW experience in the Far East, and it was a real eye-opener for me. It was around that same time that I read “I Cannot Forgive” about the Holocaust and I think was 11 or so when I read that. It was nearly unbelievable to me. But it gave me an introduction to what man can do to other men.
The one book I read that left an impact on me was a large volume, don’t remember the name, but it covered all aspects, the brutality, the horrible transport ships, the sub and air attacks by their own side, the starvation, the cold, it seemed so different from what read had happened in the European theater to allied troops.
All this fits with the experience of a man who burned for revenge and nearly drank himself to death, only to find God instead. That is what I got out of that book.
Do you think the movie could have been made without degenerating into “prison porn” but still be true this man's experience?
I don't plan on seeing the movie. Seriously, I don't think that Zamperini’s story could be told without showing the violence, and if they didn't show it, it wouldn't be his life. The violence would be just too much for me, just listening to the audiobook was almost too much.