After being snubbed by both the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards, "Unbroken" was overlooked by the Oscars this week.
The Angelina Jolie-directed film was tipped to receive a Best Picture and Best Director nod, but came up empty-handed this award season.
The film is an adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling book about Louis Zamperini, "Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption."
Zamperini, a former cross-country track athlete, carried the torch in five Olympic games, and enlisted in the Air Force during World War II.
He survived a plane crash, 47 days floating on a raft in the Pacific Ocean, more than two years as a Japanese prisoner of war, and substance abuse and psychological disorders when he returned to the United States. He would go on to dedicate his life to Christ, and forgive his captors.
Jolie admitted that she hesitated to take on the project due to the enormity of the story.
"I wasn't really looking for something of this size," she said before the film's release.
Jolie's directorial debut was a controversial film about the Bosnian War, "In the Land of Blood and Honey," that received a mixed response.
But after a lightbulb moment in the middle of the night, Jolie changed her mind about bringing Zamperini's story to the big screen.
She met with Universal Pictures – who had owned the rights to Zamperini's story for more than 50 years – and said that her movie "would end with Zamperini's liberation but not include his bout with alcoholism and Billy Graham-inspired religious conversion".
Christian media critic Ted Baehr said the decision was a mistake.
"'Unbroken' is one of the best books ever written," he said. "The great story is that he got out of his anger problem (with PTSD) by coming to Christ."
However, Jolie said just before the film's release that Zamperini had been portrayed in the film according to his own wishes.
We made it universal, not specific to one faith, and that was something that was agreed upon with Louie," Jolie said, according to The Christian Post.
"He said he wanted the message to reach everyone ... he said this is about reaching everyone and this should speak to everyone."
The film has received a mixed response from critics since its Christmas Day release, although it was commercially successful.
The Academy also snubbed Tim Burton's "Big Eyes," Jennifer Aniston in "Cake," and Jake Gyllenhall and Rene Russo in "Nightcrawler."
