Movie Notes: Rescue Dawn

January 6th, 2010

= 4 stars

Starring Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies
Directed by Werner Herzog

Synopsis

In 1965, Navy pilot Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) crashes in the Laotian jungle, and is taken captive by the local militia. He soon plots an escape with fellow prisoners.

The Good

• Bale repeats the worryingly-skinny routine from The Machinist, taking several other actors along with him for the ride, namely Steve Zahn. Was filmed in reverse since weight gain occurs more quickly than weight loss.
• Based on a true story, and is a dramatization of events described by Dengler himself in Herzog’s documentary Little Dieter Needs To Fly. Despite some debate to the accuracy of the events depicted here, you definitely get the wallop of extreme survival. Dengler is tortured by his captors, nearly starves to death, and escapes into the harsh jungle only to find that environment even more brutal.
• Dengler’s unproductive adventure could be seen as metaphor for America’s involvement in Vietnam.
• Some of the later scenes of Dengler hopelessly lost and confused in the jungle have that surreal, humidity-drenched animalism of Aguirre, The Wrath Of God. Live snakes and maggots for lunch; yum.

The Bad

• Dengler is missing motivation beyond sheer survival; would have liked some glimmer of his life back home.
• Afterward, admiration for Dengler was subverted by a strong desire to eat a steak and hamburger.

Conclusion

A harrowing yet entertaining combination of The Great Escape, The Machinist, and Aguirre, The Wrath Of God… and an episode of Man Vs. Wild. Recommended, with Little Dieter Needs To Fly as a second course.

IMDB: Rescue Dawn
Wikipedia: Rescue Dawn
Rotten Tomatoes: Rescue Dawn