I have written of my admiration for Louis Zamperini before. When I read his book, "Devil At My Heels" in 2004, I wrote a letter to the publisher and asked if they could let him know how much I admired him. His story of survival, imprisonment and then, forgiveness is one that I think everyone should know. To my surprise, I received a personal letter from Mr. Zamperini! (If you read anything about him, you will know that he personally answered every single letter that he received, until his ill health in his later years forced him to stop. And even then, he had one of his fellow Olympic buddies to answer those letters. What an extraordinary guy!) When Laura Hillenbrand wrote her book about him which she entitled "Unbroken", I was thrilled that so many more would know his story. When the movie was made from that book, I was pleased to hear it. Only...the movie didn't have anything to say at all about Louis Zamperini's life AFTER World War II and there was so much more! So, I am pleased to tell you that there will be a new film that will be released in September of this year, so please look out for it! Will Graham, the grandson of the preacher, Billy Graham who just died recently, will play the part of his grandfather in this film.
(If you remember, Louis Zamperini went to see Billy Graham, at the urging of his wife Cynthia, in Los Angeles, in the very early days of Billy Graham's revivals, when he held his meetings in a small tent. Mr. Zamperini turned his life around and spent the rest of his long life speaking of forgiveness through the love of Christ.)
Now, from the trailer of this film, I am very much surprised at how much the actors remind me of Louis and Cynthia. Listen at me, you would think that I knew them but honestly, there are photos of them both in "Devil At My Heels" and I have a thing for faces so...trust me, they do look like them! (Not exactly, of course, but I would be interested to see if Mr. Zamperini's family agrees with me.)
Hope you all are doing well these days, my friends! For me, it has been an unusually busy time in my life but hey, as long as I have some blue sky and blossoms, I am okay.
Take care!
Hi Kay - an amazing story and interesting to know another film is coming out this year ... it's an episode that you know a great deal about and appreciate how he pulled through and achieved. Thanks for letting us know - Hilary
ReplyDeleteI do like the way you follow through on your passions.
ReplyDeleteI bought the book Unbroken and aim to read it; how kind of him to answer each letter. C.S. Lewis did that too. I treasure two letters Madeleine L'Engle sent me. Three wonderful Christians. The new film sounds good too.
ReplyDeleteI'll watch out for it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a film worth seeing for sure. I love the picture of your Spring blossoms. I'm still waiting for them here.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be a while before we have blooming trees in my neck of the woods! I'm just waiting for the snow to melt! But lots of it has and my snow drops are blooming. One of my daughters is in Hilton Head with her family this week and they are enjoying flowering trees, though they had to drive through a scary snowstorm in the mountains of West Virginia and even into North Carolina to get there....Thanks for the information about the upcoming movie.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this story when my husband and I listened to it on audio CD. I too thought the movie fell a little short. Looking forward to see what they do with the newer release.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter!
Oh wow! Those cherry blossom trees are awesome. Spring! Yay!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is an inspiring, heart-warming story, isn't it? A life well spent.
ReplyDeleteI can recall some long time ago (4 or 5 years?) that you wrote about 'Unbroken' and asked why people would watch a work of fiction when they could watch 'Unbroken'. I think I said something like there was too much unpleasantness in real life that people often wanted lifting out of reality in their film watching. I think that possibly still applies although I'd add that that applies to the sort of people who might otherwise watch 'Unbroken'. There are so many TV programmes and films that are pure fiction but make reality of the worst kind look almost benign. Therein possibly lies one of our greatest threats to being happy humans.
ReplyDeleteLove that cherry tree photo; don't think I've seen that one!
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