Angelina Jolie says PG-13 rating for 'Unbroken' was very important to her

NEW YORK, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Director Angelina Jolie says it was very important that her film Unbroken be rated PG-13 as opposed to R, so most people could see it and learn about its hero Louie Zamperini's incredible survival story.

Based on the best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken follows Zamperini as he went from Olympic runner to World War II airman to tortured prisoner of war to free man again. He died in July at the age of 97.

"It was very important," Jolie said of the PG-13 rating at a press conference in New York Friday.

"I thought often -- in making this film -- about my children. My sons -- the older ones -- are of the age that is appropriate to see it. It's a movie for everybody, but I think it's one... We think about this Great Generation and the values they had and how they were as men and I think it is one that we want to raise our children and remind this generation of, of their sense of family and community and honor and pay respect to them," explained the real-life mother of six kids. "I want my children to know about men like Louie, so when they feel bad about themselves and think all is lost, they know they've got something inside of them because that's what this story speaks to. It's what's in all of us. You don't have to be a perfect person or a saint or a hero. Louie was very flawed, very human, but made great choices and was, in the end, a great man."

Starring Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi, Garrett Hedlund and Finn Wittrock, the film is set for U.S. release Dec. 25.