Rescue Dawn

Reviewed by:
Gene Newman

Before the official start of the Vietnam war America was flying secret missions over Laos. Forty minutes into his first mission, U.S. fighter pilot Lieutenant Dieter Dengler was shot down and put through absolute hell in a POW camp. Legendary director Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man) made a documentary about Dengler 10 years ago, but always felt it would make a great movie. He was right. Christian Bale is as solid as always as Dengler, an upbeat and friendly guy who defines the true American spirit. Fellow POWs Steve Zahn gives a career performance as a broken-down POW, as does Jeremy Davies, looking as if he's moments from dying of starvation. While this isn't a massive action-packed POW movie like The Great Escape or Rambo II, it feels completely genuine because Herzog actually makes his actors suffer. When Bale is eating maggots or killing a snake with his teeth, it's real. That translates and makes this a realistic low-key story of survival and hope when there really shouldn't be any. Plus, Herzog is a badass. Any 65-year-old willing to put himself in the same situation as his actors, whether it be floating aimlessly through snake-infested waters or braving the thickest patches of untamed jungle, is a hero in our book.