Despite not being religious, Angelina Jolie learned the power of prayer while filming her next film, owing to an unusual friendship with a WWII hero and devoted Christian.

When UNBROKEN opens in theaters on Christmas Day, there’s no question that it will have a huge impact and inspire people all around the world. It tells the incredible true story of World War II POW Louis Zamperini and his unimaginable journey of hardship and suffering, which he endured only because of his unwavering refusal to give up, his steadfast determination to hold on to hope, and, ultimately, his willingness to forgive those who sought to break both his body and spirit.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is a war drama based on the best-selling book of the same name.

Louis Zamperini died of pneumonia on July 2 at the age of 97.

Angelina Jolie is a multi-award-winning actress, who has been outspoken about her lack of faith in God in the past.

“There doesn’t need to be a God for me. There is something in people that’s spiritual, that’s godlike,” Angelina said in an interview 19 years ago.

Cynthia Garris, Zamperini’s daughter, remembered a particularly stormy day in New South Wales, Australia, when the sun was badly required to film a crucial scene.

“[Angelina] said, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do, so I’ll do what Louie would do,’” Garris said at a recent press conference. “She got on her knees, and she prayed for a miracle. . . everybody saw it. It stopped raining. The sun came out, a rainbow came out. She said, ‘Let’s get this take,’ [and] they shot the take. When she said ‘cut,’ it started to rain again.”

According to Garris, the remarkable experience spoke volumes about her now-deceased father’s faith and the power of his engaging tale to influence individuals of all ages and religions.

“She was moved by my father’s faith to try that and that’s what he wants for people to get from the movie,” Garris explained. “I’ll tell you, when my father died we were all with him in the hospital. [Angelina] came about 45 minutes later and she was pointing above saying ‘I know he’s with us, I know he’s there with God.’ I think maybe in God’s plan for Angelina, she was supposed to find Louie and make this movie to find her way to a life that would encompass the Almighty.”

It is clear that God planted a seed in the heart of Angelina Jolie. From her meeting the combat veteran to the day God halted the rain, God planned everything.

Zamperini endured a variety of harrowing experiences during his life, including surviving a near-fatal plane accident by living 47 days on a raft across the Pacific. After being taken to a P.O.W. camp, he was subjected to horrific torture by the Japanese navy.

“We are all searching for what is it that’s going to pull us through. This film speaks of that. It speaks of how to overcome, of how to face obstacles,” Angelina remarked in an exclusive interview with Movieguide TV co-host Evy Baehr.

“Faith is very present in our film. Sometimes we represented it with very obvious symbols, and sometimes it’s the light. It’s the darkness and the light,” Angelina Jolie remarked when Evy asked how UNBROKEN will reach the faith community.

According to NBC Sports’ Nick Zaccardi, Jolie had the opportunity to show him a rough cut of the film just before he died in hospital.

In an Associated Press article, Jolie said, “I wanted to learn from Louis and be around this great man, but I wanted to put something out in the world that reminded us all of the strength of the human spirit and brotherhood and faith and all of the things that will, in the end, get us through these dark times.”

“It was an extremely moving experience to watch someone watching their own life… someone so physically strong… and they are at the stage where their body is giving up,” Jolie said about his death in the December edition of Vanity Fair.

“And yet we laughed together, and talked about his mom. And being a man of such faith, he talked about all the people he believed he would be seeing on the other side. And that it would bring him peace. After a life of fighting, he could rest.”