TOKYO—Angelina Jolie’s new movie “Unbroken” has not been released in Japan yet, but it has already struck a nerve in a country still wrestling over its wartime past.
The buzz on social networks and in online chatter is decidedly negative over the film, which depicts a U.S. Olympic runner who endures torture at a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during World War II.
Some people are calling for a boycott of the movie, although there is no release date in Japan yet. It hits theaters in the United States on Dec. 25.
Others want the ban extended to Jolie, the director—unusual in a nation enamored with Hollywood, and especially Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt, who have reputations as Japan lovers.
The movie follows the real-life story of Louis Zamperini as told in a 2010 book by Laura Hillenbrand. The book has not been translated into Japanese, but online trailers have provoked outrage. Zamperini, played by Jack O'Connell, survived on a raft for 47 days with two other crewmen after their B-24 bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, only to be captured by the Japanese and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
Especially provocative is a passage in the book that accuses the Japanese of engaging in cannibalism of POWs. It is not clear how much of that will be in the movie, but in Japan that is too much for some.
