Rescue Dawn

Rescue Dawn is an excellent Vietnam War POW drama directed by Werner Herzog. Christian Bale gives one of his finest and most grueling performances as German/American pilot who is shot down on a secret bombing raid in Laos. Bale and the rest of his POW costars were totally dedicated to their roles losing an unhealthy amount of weight for absolute authenticity and realism. Rescue Dawn is a harrowing and totally realistic trip to Hell, via the humid, scorching jungle and his sadistic captors. Rescue Dawn is a riveting tale of survival and perseverance that is raw and gritty. The cinematography is excellent and the score is powerful, but subtle. For the most part, the politics of the war are not much of a factor in this film and is mostly about what Dieter Dengler(Christian Bale) and his fellow POW's had to endure. Rescue Dawn is a very good film that in my opinion is very underrated.

After getting shot down in Laos, Dieter Dengler is captured, tortured, and eventually transported to a remote POW camp where he is united with fellow American pilots with the same problem. With the arrival of Dengler, a new spirit emerges among the group, and an escape plan soon hatches. RESCUE DAWN is a story of struggle, friendship, keeping one's sanity, and survival amidst a war-brewing Vietnam and its inhospitable jungles. Werner Herzog does a great job with his direction, giving his actors full reign as well as inspiring them to their creative peaks. Each actor in the film does their best with each role; none becoming too hammy or extreme in their techniques; with Bale, Zahn, and Davies all shedding flesh as well as comfort in preparation for their tasking roles. Great cinematography throughout, as the Laotian backdrop is realized vividly; looming stone cliffs and walls of vine add further quality to the prison feel, and empty fields and lush rain forest paints the wild of Vietnam effectively. The music is excellent, and serves the film nobly, never trying too hard for tears or pity. RESCUE DAWN is a feel-good movie without really trying to become one, which is where so many survival and hardship movies fail; but any imperfections this film does have, is certainly overshadowed by its obvious technical genius, excellent acting, and courageous story.

Writer-director Werner Herzog, whose films have always been marked by a rapport with the natural world, takes this trademark to Laos in "Rescue Dawn," a compelling, intimate account of the Vietnam conflict. Based on the real-life tale of Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), a German-born/American-bred fighter pilot with a cocky, cowboy-like demeanor, the film goes for realism and largely succeeds. The setting is a microscopic POW camp where Dengler and a half-dozen prisoners, including Dwight (Steve Zahn, playing well against type) and Gene (Jeremy Davies--"Saving Private Ryan") plot an escape. Interestingly, the extensive Vietnamese spoken in the film is not subtitled, which actually adds to the strong sense of isolation incurred from the POWs' position. Herzog also paints "Rescue Dawn" as a timely meditation on the Iraq War--while Dieter's John Wayne persona (that takes a drastically different turn in the second half) could be read as an endorsement of American militarism, we see the emaciated, defeated prisoners almost as symbols of a war that's been "lost" from the beginning; even later in the film, the Vietnamese captors begin to show the same signs of fatigue and desperation. The whole concept of "escape" is essential to making an entertaining, suspenseful film (which "Rescue Dawn" certainly is), but also reflective of a current foreign-policy mess that should have been curtailed before it even began. But Herzog is subtle in his politics, and lets the jungle do most of the talking--once Dieter and his fellow prisoners escape, the road to a "happy ending" is anything but "cut and dry." The director often puts us in the midst of torture and terror, but also milks moments of surprising humor to great effect, and gets excellent performances from the entire cast (while Bale is top-billed, Zahn and Davies are the real standouts). My only real complaint about the film is a conclusion that comes off as contrived and unnecessary, stretching the credibility of the harrowing realism that came before. Otherwise, "Rescue Dawn" is one of 2007's standout features.

A no-nonsense(no bragging about 'Uncle Sam') and sombre depiction of a spasming survival. While the film has a few disturbing historical inaccuracies, the whole experience is gripping. I guess after 'Platoon', I was impressed by this movie's jungle 'fear-factor', the cinematography deserves applause. The background score gives justice to the setting of the movie. Christian Bale has put his heart into the role and well supported by the rest of the cast. There are these rare 'straight stories' that make a mark in a gentleman's way, this movie is one ...

I saw this at the world premiere last night, and it was really great. Not my favorite Herzog movie, but overall his most well rounded one and definitely his most mainstream. It has a chance of doing quite well at the box office. The acting is all around terrific, and the camera work beautiful.

Most Herzog movies seem like these flawed masterpieces; movies that are worth watching for several moments of intense brilliance. Rescue Dawn had these moments of brilliance, and the rest seemed like a very well made thriller / action movie. However, it didn't quite pack the same punch as the best moments of Fitzcarraldo or Aguirre. Still, I gave it 5/5 on my voting ballot.