Rescue Dawn
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Movie Reviews of Rescue Dawn
Movie Review: Rescue Dawn - Suspenseful War Film Based on a Real POW
Summary: 4 Stars
Rescue Dawn is unique among war films in many ways. While it isn't the fast paced action thriller of so many fictionalized war movies, it offers the story of a real man told tastefully through suspense and drama. For those looking for graphic battle gore, this isn't the movie for you. If you can take the time to study and appreciate how a horrendous situation can impact a man's thoughts and identity, you will find a lot to learn from here.
Christian Bale plays Dieter Dengler, a pilot shot down at the onset of the Vietnam War in neighboring Laos. He miraculously survives the crash and has to contend with his capture and re-education by his communist captors. He is eventually taken to a camp where there are other Americans. The rest of the plot, while long, is best experienced without an outline.
Bale's acting is great. The supporting cast is equally as impressive, especially Steve Zahn as Duane and Jeremy Davies as Gene. The lush rain-forest is also a character in this movie, and the cinematography beautifully captures one of the world's most awe-inspiring and dangerous places.
The story was previously told in Werner Herzog's documentary, "Little Dieter Needs to Fly." Little Dieter Needs to Fly The script is nicely written, but much of it still comes across as a documentary. The director uses suspense and time to convey the anxiety of the situation. That's part of the reason wider film audiences are turned off or left wanting more.
I suspect that this movie would have had more visual impact in theatres. Unfortunately, it never reached wide theatrical release in the USA. The closest viewing most of us can have is to try to see the Blu-Ray version, which is visually stunning. Rescue Dawn [Blu-ray]
Ultimately, what will a man do to survive such an ordeal? This movie is a careful study that will appeal to film lovers. It isn't pro or against anything. It is simply the story of one man's ordeal.
Movie Review: A story of courage
Summary: 4 Stars
Inspired by the true story of Dieter Dengler's (Christian Bale) ordeals during the Vietnam war, Rescue Dawn follows Lt. Dengler on his very first combat mission. Prior to the primary ground battles, U.S. troops flew bombing raids missions into Laos, and it is during one such excursion in 1965 that Dengler's plane took ground-fire that caused a crash.
While jungle survival videos produced by the military were supposed to keep a downed pilot safe in Dengler's situation, they did no such thing. Woefully unprepared for the jungle, he's captured in a matter of days and soon faces months of sadistic torture at the hands of both the Laotians and the Vietnamese. Beatings, being bound and tied to a moving oxen, and nearly drowned, he's eventually moved to a P.O.W. camp where other soldiers are being held. It is in this prison camp that a daring rescue attempt is devised by the shared contributions of the prisoners, as Dengler and other prisoners fight through the jungles of Laos towards Thailand and eventual freedom.
Convincing as Dengler, Christian Bale really sells out for this role. Throughout the movie his physical condition noticeably worsens, his weight takes a dramatic drop, and he truly looks like he may have been tortured as a POW.
Troubling, however, is what I have read since watching the movie. Evidently, several other prisoners and their families take umbrage with the manner in which the movie portrays certain events. Werner Herzog takes liberties with certain facts, giving credit to Dengler when others were responsible, and painting other prisoners in a negative light when, in fact, they were courageous and patriotic throughout the entire ordeal.
Not knowing the contested history, this movie is a solid contribution to Hollywood's Vietnam oeuvre. It's a tense, harrowing drama, and I'm upset that this is based in even the remotest sense on reality. Knowing that certain portrayals within the movie inaccurately tarnish the legacy of good men who gave their lives upsets me even more.
Movie Review: A strong portrait of a man who refuses to be grounded
Summary: 4 Stars
It's ironic (but not unexpected) that Herzog's most successful film to date is probably his most conventional, and least characteristic, film. What makes it seem uncharacteristic is its complete lack of irony, its refusal to stand at a distance from its characters or from the situation as they see it. Most of Herzog's films are explorations of obsessions, both their danger and excitement -- the capacity of obsession both to reveal and transcend as well as to destroy. In their unflinching look at the passions that drive men to create and destroy, Herzog gives a kind of portrait of himself, of what he admires and what he questions.
Here it is Dieter Dengler, played very well by Christian Bale (in another body altering performance), who is obsessed with flying. Of German descent, but now thoroughly Americanized, Dengler is not interested in war per se but takes advantage of the opportunity that military service provides him to become a fighter pilot. He ends up being shot down and captured, and the film explores his reaction to this captivity, and his drive to escape. Apart from a stubborn tenacity that brushes aside objections to his plan, Dieter is unambiguously presented as a hero in the tradition of classical American films. Herzog clearly admires the man, and this film (like the documentary upon which it was based - "Little Dieter Needs to Fly") is a celebration of his dedication and perseverance, and reveals a side of Herzog that may be less evident in many of his other films. One feature that makes it clearly not your average war prisoner film is its unwillingness to be judgmental about the captors -- who are in a precarious situation themselves and managing only as well as they know how. Rescue Dawn is, perhaps, not a film I'll go back to again and again like Aguirre or Fitzcarraldo or Stroszek or Lessons of Darkness or Wild Blue Yonder, but it is a very well made and well acted film -- and definitely one to watch.
Movie Review: Filling
Summary: 4 Stars
I was so excited to rent this one. I didn't have a chance to catch it in the movies and I almost made a blind buy when I saw it up for pre-order. I had heard so many great things about this picture. I have to say however that I was let down a bit by the movie. I thought Bale was solid as ever. Zahn was incredible and almost unrecognizable in his gaunt frame. The story was interesting, but I didn't care much for the direction of the picture. I thought Bale was always too confident and arrogant. I didn't sympathize as much with him as a should have, and I never had any doubts he would escape. I also heard that the film was gritty looking, but aside from the stock footage in the beginning, it seemed to be a standard looking film. Also, I guess I expected the camp to be a little more brutal. The men did get locked in cuffs and a stock at night and didn't get the food they needed, but other than that it wasn't what I expected. You read books on what some men went through as POW's and watch movies like Deer Hunter and I guess I just expected more than the men eating some bugs. I am going to watch this again without having such high expectations. It is a good movie, it just isn't the great movie I hoped it would be.Movie Review: An Exciting Escape Movie Based on Fact
Summary: 4 Stars
This was an interesting movie about a US Navy pilot who is shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War, captured by the Pathet Lao, imprisoned, and makes a daring escape thru the Laotian jungle. Dieter (Christian Bale) is an optimistic German-American POW, not at all cartoonish, gung-ho, or sadistic as portrayed in movies like THE GREEN BERETS-PLATOON-FULL METAL JACKET-THE DEER HUNTER, who knows he must escape his cruel captors before they kill him and the other prisoners. We feel his frustration and determination, despite the doubts expressed by the other POWs, that he will convince them that they must all work together if they are to survive. Dieter succeeds and he and fellow POW Duane (Steve Zahn) do make their getaway and struggle thru the jungle in search of freedom. This is a riveting look at the misery suffered by Americans captured by the enemy during the Vietnam War. It is an uplifting movie and I highly recommend it.