For Angelina Jolie and most of the people who watched her new film, "Unbroken," it was the biopic of American Olympic runner, Louis Zamperini, who spent years being tortured in the Japanese camp during the Second World War.

For Japanese nationalists, the film is a racist attempt at history, with the war hero's account said to be unverified and labeled Jolie, who directed the film, as racist.

According to the New York Daily, Japanese right-wing nationalist groups said that the events that happened in "Unbroken," with Zamperini's beatings in the hands of an Imperial officer Mutsuhiro Watanabe, have never been confirmed. Secretary-General of the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact told the Telegraph about Jolie's film, "It's pure fabrication."

He also added, "If there is no verification of the things he said, then anyone can make such claims," he added. "This movie has no credibility and is immoral."

The website also noted that there has been a Change.org petition against the film, attracting over 8,000 signatures and demanding Jolie to halt the film distribution on the grounds of its contradiction to the facts.

According to The Guardian, the film was based on the nonfiction book by Laura Hillenbrand called "Unbroken: a World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption."

The book, as well as Jolie's film, told the story of the airman who was tormented as a prisoner of war between July 1943 and August 1945. Zamperini was beaten and mistreated by the Japanese navy after he was captured near the Marshall Islands after the b-24 bomber he had helped to crew fell to the sea.

Despite the denials and indignant reactions of the right-hand nationalists, Japanese activists are hoping that they will be able to convince Japan to face up to the brutalities that happened during the war. Asia Policy Point director Mindy Kotler said, "It is one thing to question the memories of illiterate women who were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military. It is quite another to question the memory of a white male Olympian who was a disciple of Billy Graham.

"Further, there is plenty of documentation on the abuse and tortures inflicted upon POWs. There is also plenty of eyewitness and forensic evidence of Japanese cannibalism of prisoners as well of fellow soldiers.

"With the majority of war crimes trials and much of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal focused on atrocities against POWs, discrediting POW testimony is an important step toward discrediting the war crimes trials. This is the objective of it all.

"It is outrageous and reprehensible to deny what happened to Louis Zamperini.

"It will not be something that the US government will be able to ignore. Both the San Francisco Peace Treaty, which is predicated on acceptance of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, and the honour of American veterans need to be defended."

"Unbroken" will open in theaters on Christmas day.