Rescue Dawn

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Ten years ago Werner Herzog made a brilliant documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly. It was the story of Dieter Dengler, a German boy who grew up with vivid images of the Allied planes that destroyed his village - he made eye contact with the pilot of a plane that flew so close to his bedroom window he could almost touch the wing, he said. Later, he emigrated to the US and joined the navy, where he realized his dream to become a pilot. Shipped off to Vietnam, he was promptly shot down over Laos and taken prisoner. Despite torture and starvation he escaped - but that was only half the battle. He still needed to get through the jungle back to safety.

Another German abroad (and of the same generation as Dengler), Werner Herzog has made his home in Los Angeles for the past decade. This is only his second "fictional" movie in that time (the last one was the disastrous Invincible), but Herzog being Herzog that is a dubious distinction to say the least. Last year's non-fiction film Wild Blue Yonder was framed as a sci-fi movie from the aliens' point of view, and in fact Herzog freely admits to taking poetic liberties with many of his documentaries, including Little Dieter, which includes dream sequences, Tibetan chants and business about Dieter's disliking for doors - a trauma completely invented by the director in his quest for what he calls "Ecstatic Truth". (Can't imagine him getting too many commissions from the BBC in the near future.)

Rescue Dawn is Herzog's first "Hollywood movie", and it too is the story of Dieter Dengler. Inevitably, Dieter is played by Christian Bale. Why "inevitably"? Because in Empire Of The Sun, Bale made eye contact with a pilot flying just feet away from him. And because Bale starved himself in The Machinist and obviously likes the skeletal look; like Herzog, he's not one for half measures.

The story here is much like it was in the documentary, except that it's more constrained by "reality". Save for a short prologue and an ever briefer epilogue, it all takes place in the vicinity of where Dengler is shot down in Laos on his very first mission. There is no phobia about locked doors in this version, nor the incredible "graveyard" of planes, the unforgettable last shot of the documentary.

Behind enemy lines, Dengler destroys his radio as he was trained to (so that it wouldn't fall into enemy hands). Had he kept it, he might have saved himself a long and brutal ordeal, but he is soon captured and tortured. There is a fake execution. He is bound by the wrists and ankles and an ants' nest is fixed to his head. His captors are perplexed that a German refuses to sign propaganda against the United States, but he sticks to his principles and is farmed out to a jungle prison with just half a dozen American POWs and twice as many jailers - and not enough food for either contingent.

Bale plays Dieter as an indomitable personality, an exuberant and enterprising survivor who refuses to admit defeat. His wild toothy grin is enough to revive the spirits of his comrades (most poignantly an emaciated Steve Zahn), even if the half-crazy Duane (Jeremy Davies) sounds equally plausible when he cautions against any escape attempt. The bamboo walls aren't the prison, he says. The jungle is the prison.

Herzog is no stranger to this terrain - after Aguirre, Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, he has amassed more experience of filming in jungles than anyone - and the film's matter of fact account of the hardships Dengler endures is never less than convincing.

The director behaves himself on this movie. It's his most disciplined and least individual film (there is some word that he didn't have final cut). For my money, Little Dieter is richer and more rewarding experience, but Rescue Dawn is an exemplary piece of storytelling, a classic POW drama to set beside the likes of Empire of the Sun and Bridge over the River Kwai. After the Vietnam war was over, America used to tell itself there were still hundreds of G.I.s in prison camps who would eventually come back home. The myth was enshrined in movies like Rambo and Uncommon Valor. In reality Dieter Dengler was one of only seven US POWs who escaped from a VC prison camp and lived to tell the tale.

Tom Charity
tom.charity@lovefilm.com

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Another Vietnam film? It's okay, this one's rather good..

Vivacia from London [Highly rated reviewer] , 10/01/2008

With so little attention payed to this film it's surprising how well it actually did upon it's release in the US, and disappointing that it got such small exposure upon it's release here in Britain. Likely you haven't heard of 'Rescue Dawn' or have only seen a few posters scattered around. Don't let this fool you - this is a film that is well worth watching, especially if you have enjoyed other films based in and around the Vietnam war.

We start off in a Top Gun-esque scenario, with the pilots joking and preparing for their secret bombing mission in Laos. This is the very start of the Vietnam War, at a point where many believed it was going to be an easy ride and long before the cynicism and anger had taken over. But when one of the pilots, Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), is shot down he is quickly taken prisoner and held with another five men in a makeshift prison camp.

Bale brilliantly plays a man who clearly has no idea how serious the situation is and really has no appreciation for how long he may be imprisoned. When he meets his fellow captives his shock at finding out they have been incarcerated for years already, is a suitable reminder that this is an idealistic young man that 'just wanted to fly'.

The performances throughout the film are outstanding, particularly from Mr. Bale, who repeats his starvation look from 'The Machinist', though it's not quite as extreme ('Recue Dawn' was in fact shot backwards as it's easier to gain weight than lose it, so all the actors started filming with skeletal frames). The other players also do outstanding work as his fellow inmates, varying from paranoid to resigned, and all clearly fighting the urge to hope that they may be able to escape with this new arrival.

The visuals in 'Rescue Dawn' also must be mentioned as they are breathtaking. Filmed in Vietnam, Werner Herzog has done a wonderful job of capturing the beauty of the forests, as well as showing how vast they are and as a consequence terrifying to cross.

Sadly the film is not without it's faults - the major one being that though this is 'based' on a true story you really feel that you're not getting the whole picture. Dieter seems too perfect and never seems to doubt or question his actions or motives, and his responses at times feel like an idealised version of what actually happened. Despite Bale's impressive performance you still wish he could be given a little leeway to really get into the feelings such a terrifying situation would cause.

Despite minor problems 'Rescue Dawn' is a highly watchable movie and has you rooting for Dieter from the get go. Though it's not as strong as other Vietnam films, it certainly takes it's place alongside them and can hold it's head high in their company.

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Moving portrayal of one man's plight

Meako Meako from Sheffield [Highly rated reviewer] , 24/11/2007

Based on the journal of Dieter Dengler, a uS pilot who went down whilst on a secret operation in the early days of the Vietnam war, Rescue Dawn is a moving account of his battle to survive through an ordeal of torture and imprisonment. Never letting the situation destroy his will to survive, Dieter (played by Christian Bale) rallies new hope in the fellow prisoners of the detainment camp he finds himself in, plotting a way to escape. Direct Wener Herzog brings a simple, yet powerfully emotive style to the proceedings, letting the tale tell itself without any flourishes. Music is used sparingly, and never overpowers the moment - with most of the ambience being the sounds of the dense jungle surrounding the camp. This style, and tone, conveys beautifully, and disturbingly, the hopelessness of the situation Dieter finds himself in, making his own stance against it all all the more uplifiting for the audience. The cast are very low-key in their roles, with no-one trying to take over the story, and Steve Zahn as Duane (a fellow captive) breaks past his usual funny-man turn and delivers a wonderfully subtle performance as one of the broken few held captive. Bale, as always, delivers a stunning perfromance, and once more sheds the weight to switch from being a figure of fitness, to a humble shade of a man by the end. Filled with delicate moments of cinematography that find beauty in the harshest of moments, and a story that simple engages and drags you along with it, the film wastes not one moment of time and will move and shock in equal measure.

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Another Vietnam film! But this one....

A customer from Harrow , 11/02/2008

I was hyped for this film. Christian Bale in a Vietnam war film? Excellent, I thought. However despite being based on true and somewhat extraordinary events the result is lacking that special something that translates into a good movie experience.

Initially Rescue Dawn starts off strong for the first half hour with the briefing, the crash and the torture. The torture is so brutal and a head VC so irrational and downright mean, so easy to hate that everything that follows his unannounced departure can't help but seem rather nice in comparison. Many of the characters that follow are just there because they probably were there in real life, but their existence in the film doesn't seem to add anything to it since they're entirely one-dimensional. You've got the one who can understand Vietnamese, the hopeless one, the one who doesn't talk, the one who does kung-fu, etc. In fact they seem to subtract from Dieter's story.

Overall Rescue Dawn, whilst a good idea, lost it's focus before the halfway point and didn't really show us anything that we haven't seen before in the war genre.

Rescue Dawn

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