#1 on Christmas Day.
Louie became an alcoholic after WWII. His fame and war hero status wasn't sufficient. Eventually he found himself, by the grace of God, at a Billy Graham crusade in Los Angeles.
Jesus Christ took up residence in Louie's heart and changed him completely. Louie went to Japan and forgave his abusers. He started an organization for troubled kids. He truly became, through his Saviour, unbroken.
Jolie's film barely touches this aspect of Louie's life, but it is there.
One suspects the Christian viewpoint of the film's subject might be tainting this "journalist".
To me, that was the salvation of the story.
By itself, it would have been interesting, but that he came home a ruined man, bent on self destruction and murder, would have made it a side note like hundreds or thousands of others.
But this man found God, and was able to forgive those men who mistreated him so violently. God had opened up Louie’s eyes for a day out on the ocean and let him see the miracle of what He and his creation is, and that came back to him later.
It is not really the story of an Olympic hero or a military man being stranded in a raft, or even a man who was declared dead and came back to life.
It is, in my opinion, a story about a man who was tested by God, who found his way to God in one of the darkest hours of his life, and was able to forgive those who hated and tortured him, which allowed him to live the rest of his life in happiness and with purpose.
Pretty remarkable story.