Louis Zamperini isn’t the type of person you’d expect to see at a Billy Graham Crusade. But he is the type of person who needs to be there.

“God is my enemy,” he tell his wife.

Zamperini, though, says he has reason to be angry at God. A bombardier during World War II, his plane crashed at sea due to mechanical failure, forcing him to survive on raw fish and birds as he drifted aimlessly on a raft for 47 days. And when he did find an island, he was captured by the Japanese, placed in a prison camp, and brutally tortured for two years. On multiple occasions, he nearly died.

Now he’s back in the United States, trying to find hope and purpose in life during post-war America. But without a college education, he’s having trouble finding a job. And thanks to a recent injury, his track-and-field Olympic dreams are over, too.

So Zamperini turns to alcohol to hide his sorrows. Instead of looking for a job, he visits bars. He also hides money from his wife and his favorite adult beverages in the toilet tank.

Louis Zamperini is an angry, bitter man who has few goals in life, other than to return to Japan and kill his captors. His wife, sensing hopelessness, wants a divorce.  

Then a miracle happens. She invites him to the 1949 Los Angeles Billy Graham Crusade, where he accepts Christ. Soon, he’s considering the unthinkable: traveling back to Japan to forgive his captors instead of killing them. Will he find the power to follow through and do it? 

The film Unbroken: Path to Redemption (PG-13) opens this weekend, telling the true-life story of Louis Zamperini’s return to America. It is a sequel to the 2014 hit movie Unbroken and has the same producer (Matthew Baer), even if it does have a new cast. It is based on the bestselling book by Laura Hillenbrand. The film stars Samuel Hunt (Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D.) as Zamperini; Merritt Patterson (The Royals) as his wife, Cynthia; and Will Graham, the grandson of Billy Graham, as the famous evangelist.

It was made in partnership between Universal 1440 Entertainment and two faith-based companies: PureFlix and The WTA Group.

The movie opens where the 2014 film ended. The war is over, and veterans like Zamperini are trying to get their lives back on track.

Unbroken: Path to Redemption is well done and inspirational. Will Graham calls it “one of the greatest stories of forgiveness outside of the Bible.” I agree.

Warning: minor/moderate spoilers!

(Scale key: none, minimal, moderate, extreme)

Violence/Disturbing

Moderate. Zamperini has flashbacks to his days of being tortured and being hit, although none of the scenes are grotesque. He and Cynthia have an argument; he pushes her to the bed. He throws items off the dresser. 

Sexuality/Sensuality/Nudity

Minimal. A beach scene includes a few women in 1940s-style swimsuits. We see men without their shirts. Louis and Cynthia kiss several times.  

Coarse Language

None.

Other Positive Elements

Zamperini comes from a family of faith, and we hear them pray in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Cynthia – often an unsung hero — considers but later rejects divorce as an option.

Other Stuff You Might Want To Know

Zamperini drinks alcohol and visits bars.

Life Lessons

Unbroken: Path to Redemption is full of biblical messages: forgiving those who have wronged you (Louis) and never giving up on someone who needs help (Cynthia pursuing Louis), among them. The perils of war and post-traumatic stress disorder also are major themes, along with the need to reach out to veterans and military families.     

Worldview

The Apostle Paul’s testimony likely ranks at the top of the most dramatic conversion stories of all time. But if we are to take Will Graham’s advice and consider stories outside of Scripture, then I suspect Louis Zamperini’s life would rank pretty high. In the filthy Japanese prison, he was regularly beaten and tortured. One time, he was told to hold a beam over his head and if he dropped it, he would be shot. Another time, he was treated as a lab rat and given experimental medicines that caused severe pain. Covered with lice and mosquitoes, Zamperini was given just enough food to stay alive. He weighed less than 100 pounds when the war ended.

But because his sins were forgiven by Christ, he was compelled to forgive his captors – the very men he formerly hated and wanted to kill. It’s a powerful example of the Gospel.

Someone once said that “the glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.” That’s what Zamperini did. Eventually, he became a Christian evangelist.

Cynthia, too, is a hero in this story. Without her patience and her desire to forgive her husband, we likely never would have heard of Louis Zamperini.

What Works

Zamperini’s appearance in front of the Japanese is powerful. Also, Will Graham is stellar as his grandfather. The 1949 Crusade was a turning point in Billy Graham’s ministry, and filmmakers did a great job recreating it.

What Doesn’t     

Some of the flashback/nightmare scenes. A few of them work, but the others are odd.  

Discussion Questions

1. Do you think you could have done what Zamperini did?

2. Is there someone you need to forgive? What’s holding you back?

3. Why is forgiveness sometimes so hard? What do we lose by failing to forgive? What do we gain by forgiving?

4. Do you sense God is wanting you to be a “Cynthia” for someone?

Entertainment rating: 3 out of 5 stars. Family-friendly rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Rated PG-13 for thematic content and related disturbing images.

Most people would agree we don’t get four seasons in Texas. However, I think we have three—hot summer, January and February. Or you might say the four are Football, Football, Football and Football. Whatever your interests, September says it is fall. 

Each fall the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention observes a week of prayer and offering to “Reach Texas.” This special state offering supplements the Cooperative Program. The CP provides the lion’s share of what we do together in Texas and beyond. Sending 55 percent of Cooperative Program dollars to the Southern Baptist Convention is a wise investment of mission dollars. The International Mission Board depends upon the CP to fund the 3,500 missionaries who share the gospel in some of the hardest places on earth. 

On our continent, the North American Mission Board seeks to plant churches in the North and West, especially in under-evangelized cities. Our six seminaries provide financially subsidized biblical training to 15,000 students through the CP. Although a small portion is provided to the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptists have a voice for life and freedom in the public square because of the CP. The SBC Executive Committee operates a lean ministry to carry out the wishes of the messengers between annual meetings. Yes, the Cooperative Program allows churches to extend beyond our state and around the world.

The 45 percent invested in Texas is accomplishing kingdom work. On any Sunday, around 100 funded church planters are preaching the gospel in various languages amid growing suburbs and changing neighborhoods. The largest line item in the SBTC budget is new church plants. CP helps churches who seek revitalization also. In all, more than 100 church ministries are resourced through the Cooperative Program. Pastor and staff assistance is available because churches care by giving through the CP. With all of this said, why have a Reach Texas Offering?

Reach Texas dollars enable us to underwrite the costs of missions and evangelism that exceed the CP budget. Listen to some testimonies.

Shane Pruitt, SBTC director of evangelism, states that this summer was the greatest camp year ever. He shares a testimony of how a student named Saul Williams attended M3 Camp at Glorieta with a group from Rock Hill Baptist Church in Brownsboro, and how Saul was saved during one of the night services. Saul is a star football player at the school and a natural leader. During a time right after worship when churches gather to reflect on the service and share testimonies, he shared his testimony of salvation with the other students in his group. He told them how he surrendered his life to Jesus that night. He told them it was time for them to stop running from God and surrender all to Jesus. Six more students made professions of faith right then. 

Generous people giving through the Reach Texas Offering helped make the camp possible, investing in these souls and in future leaders. 

After all of the camps were completed, more churches sent in their camp decision cards. Current numbers are all-time highs for M3 Camps: Total decisions: 603; Salvations: 178; Calls to ministry: 96; Total attendance (all three weeks combined): 2,865.

Another praise enabled by the Reach Texas Offering is the SBTC local church-based collegiate missionaries. Through the efforts of your missionaries, 105 college students were baptized last school year. This is astounding! Another school year is here. Collegiate missionaries are ready to go because of the RTO. 

Doug Hixson, SBTC missions and church planting director, shares this testimony about Grace Church in Waco. Grace affiliated just a few years ago. They are very passionate about planting churches. Recently, the senior pastor told a church planter who was leaving to replant Grace Church in Hewett that he could take as many people as he wanted. His direct quote was, “Even if you take them all, we will start over if that is what it takes to reach Hewett with the gospel.” Grace Church Waco is sending 75 people to replant this new church. This church plant along with others is partially funded through the Reach Texas Offering.

“Proclaiming the Name of Jesus!” is the theme for the Reach Texas Week of Prayer and Offering. Actually, that is the only theme we should ever have as a community of believers in Jesus. Every church must decide how they are going to divide their resources. Local ministry is essential. To carry out the command of Jesus, a church must be about disciple-making locally and globally. One of the best ways to do that is with other churches through the Cooperative Program. For Texas, giving through the Reach Texas Offering, you provide needed extra funds for disaster relief, revitalization and many other areas of missions.

Pray for me, for your SBTC staff, church planters, revitalization pastors, collegiate missionaries and others during the Reach Texas Week of Prayer. Prayerfully give so that together we can see the 18 million Texans who do not know Jesus hear of God’s amazing grace.  

Eight hours of your day are spent with the same people day in and day out at your workplace. Are you leveraging your time at work for the sake of the kingdom? Many Christians desire to share Jesus with people around them but just don’t know how. It’s much easier than we think to be a witness for Christ at work. It starts with knowing people. 

As you look around your office this week, how many of your coworkers do you really know? Here are a few ways you can be intentional in knowing and loving those around you.

• Know the simple things. Do you know their spouse and kids’ names? When is their birthday? What’s their favorite snack? 
• Know the deep things. What’s their story? What are they most passionate about? What makes them most afraid in life?
• Know the spiritual things. What do they think about the church? Who do they say Jesus is? Do they have a Bible?
• Know the personal things. What do they do on their weekends? What makes them tick inside? What are they hurting over right now? 
• Know the random things. What’s their favorite sports team? What kind of music do they like? Are they an introvert or an extrovert?

Many of these things you can’t learn just by listening to their phone calls. Take a coworker to lunch and get to know them for real. You see, when we know people—really know them—we will see the opportunities to minister to them that we would have missed otherwise. Is a holiday coming up? Does their family live out of state? Invite them to celebrate Thanksgiving with your family! Do they love baseball? Do you have a team in your area? Buy them tickets to go to a game with you. 

Find ways to connect with your coworkers everyday in the office to build a relationship, then look for opportunities to take that relationship outside of office hours. Then, when you’re at the Thanksgiving table or sitting at a baseball field, share Jesus with them! 

Your workplace is a mission field to which you have been assigned and Ephesians 5:16 tells us to “make the most of every opportunity.” Will you be intentional to befriend those God has already put in your path and talk to them about the hope found in Jesus this month?   

Autumn Wall is an author, speaker, worship leader, pastor’s wife and mom of three in Indianapolis. She is the co-author of Across the Street and Around the World.