Rescue Dawn (2006)

Directed by: Werner Herzog | 126 minutes | drama, war | Actors: Christian Bale, Marshall Bell, François Chau, Jeremy Davies, Steve Zahn, Craig Gellis, GQ, Zach Grenier, Pat Healy, Toby Huss, Bonnie Z. Hutchinson, Evan Jones, Abhijati ‘Meuk’ Jusakul, Tony B. King, Richard Manning, Garrett D. Melich

‘Rescue Dawn’ is a movie like you’ve seen before. Or not quite? It’s both an escape movie along the lines of ‘Escape from Alcatraz’, and a Vietnam movie. In all, only seven American prisoners of war ever got out of a camp alive during the Vietnam War, and one of these is Dieter Dengler. Dengler’s captivating personality, and the relationship he forges with fellow inmate Duane (Steve Zahn) are the film’s main strengths. The aspects that ensure that this is not “another” Vietnam film, but a memorable experience.

Dengler, like ‘Rescue Dawn’, is in fact totally apolitical. The only reason that the originally German Dengler joined the army was to be able to fly. He is so obsessed with flying that the moment he comes face to face with a fighter jet pilot as a little boy, he can only feel admiration and jealousy for this man. It didn’t matter that he was just bombing his village. From that moment it was clear to Dengler: “Little Dieter needs to fly”.

This is also the title of a documentary that Herzog made about Dengler in 1997. And now his story has been redone with Christian Bale in the lead role. He is cut out for the role. He expresses the quote just mentioned with a fascinating enthusiasm. He stands in life as a child with only one dream or goal. A trait that probably also saved his life. From the first moment he is captured in the camp in Laos, he wants to escape. He has the determination of Steve McQueen in ‘Papillon’ and the brains and creativity of a MacGyver. He doesn’t let anything get him down, even though the other inmates, led by a horribly thin-looking Gene (Jeremy Davies), prefer to serve their time, waiting for political action.

His optimism is infectious, especially when he gets most of the group of prisoners behind him by giving them hope for a happy ending. The way in which the unstable Duane clings to the mentally and physically much stronger Dengler is touching and forms the emotional anchor of the film. It would be so nice if just this good guy would survive this hell – the camp itself, but above all the inhospitable jungle. With the help of the courageous, always positive Dengler, he might be able to pull it off.

It’s a miracle how Dengler himself came out of it in one piece, given everything he’s been through. Herzog clearly has admiration for this man and probably felt that his documentary had not shown Dengler’s strength and perseverance enough. By using the form of a fictional film, he could now, on the one hand, emphasize these character traits even more, and, on the other, show the full spectrum of setbacks. And that Christian Bale was willing to go (physically) far for a film role, had already become clear in ‘The Machinist’, in which he had reduced himself to a warehouse of bones.

In ‘Rescue Dawn’ he also has a lot to endure and he loses a lot of pounds. No wonder, then, that Dengler has no deep or hyper-patriotic slogans for his comrades when he is finally hailed as a hero. Just like the film, Dengler is extremely straightforward and uncomplicated, but that is precisely what makes it so intriguing. “Was it perhaps his faith in God and Fatherland that kept him going?” he is asked. No, it was his belief in a nice steak. You’re right, Dieter. Do not let them get to you.