Most of us know Angelina Jolie as the actress who stole Brad Pitt away from his loving fans. But, recently she has made her directorial debut with the movie Unbroken, a riveting World War II tale of survivor Louis Zamperini, who is now a household name, after his story in the bestselling novel Unbroken was adapted and turned into a big motion picture.

Everybody knows that the movie is never as good as the book. I mean how can it be? There isn’t a chance to fit all of that detail in the time constraint of two hours that a movie has. But, I think Jolie has come as close as possible to achieving that factor of “they were both really good.”

The book started out explaining Zamperini’s childhood, and moved through his life talking about his time as a rebel in his younger years and then his transition into track star who even went to the Olympics in Germany. But the bulk of the book talks about his time in World War II, from his almost fatal plane crash to his time as a Japanese Prisoner of War. Jolie took this timeline and decided to start out with a big action scene with WWII bombers shooting and fighting in the air and splicing up these scenes with flashbacks to Louie’s childhood. This helped the audience understand who Louie was but it also delivered the action you crave while sitting in the seats of a movie theater.

Actor Jack O’Connell, whom some of you might recognize from the British TV show Skins, portrays Zamperini in the movie, and might I say he hit the nail on the head. Not only did he go on a 700-calorie-a-day diet to try and show how skinny and undernourished Louie became after the plane crash and during his time in the prisoner of war camp, but he also conveyed the emotional turmoil felt by these prisoners day after day of getting beaten and told they were nothing.

I think Jolie did a great job of staying true to the story, but made some decisions when it came to filming the POW camp which resulted with the softening of the soldiers’ time there. It was hard in the audience to truly understand who “The Bird” was and why he was torturing Louie every day. In the book, The Bird is explained as a part of the Japanese army who was in charge of the prisoners in Louie’s camp. But, he had an especially enjoyable time making Louie’s life miserable and I think his hatred for Louie was not as strong in the movie, which decreased the emotion felt by the audience when Louie finally went home.

Unbroken is one of those stories that will inspire you whether you like the movie or not, so go out and see it, but I recommend reading the book first because like always, it’s better.