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All Movie Info
Starring:
Christian Bale, Marshall Bell, François Chau, Jeremy Davies, Craig Gellis, GQ, Zach Grenier, Pat Healy, Toby Huss, Evan Jones, Steve Zahn, Abhijati 'Meuk' Jusakul, Teerawat Mulvilai, Brad Carr, David Kiiskinen, Chris Butler, Bonnie Z. Hutchinson, Mr. Tony B. King, Mr. Richard Manning, Mr. Garrett D. Melich, Mr. Kriangsak Ming-olo, Somkuan 'Kuan' Siroon, Chris Butler, Eric Callero, Mr. Yuttana Muenwaja, Mr. Chorn Solyda, Mr. Saichia Wongwiroj
Directed By:
Werner Herzog
Written By:
Werner Herzog
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Rescue Dawn (2007)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
July 16th, 2007
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'Rescue Dawn' is the latest film from legendary German director Werner Herzog, and it is a harrowing tale of survival. In 1997, Herzog did a documentary about Dieter Dengler, one of a handful of Americans to escape from a POW camp Vietnam, and lived to tell about it. Now, his story has been reworked as a fictionalized drama. Dengler (Bale), a navy pilot, conducts a secret (and illegal) flying mission over Laos in 1965, and is shot down and taken prisoner. He is tortured and beaten, but wastes no time plotting his escape, along with a few other inmates, many of which are in worse shape than he, sick and emaciated. Duane (Zahn) ends up accompanying Dieter for a while once they break out, but eventually Dieter is left alone, to contend with his pursuers, the elements, and his own impending psychological breakdown. Bale offers a stunning performance, making the same kind of physical sacrifices he made for The Machinist, where he lost a lot of weight to play the part as convincingly as he could. Here, he looks just as bad, very much the product of abuse and neglect. However, more horrifying to look at is Jeremy Davies, another of the POWs, who appears to have stumbled off the set of a Holocaust movie. Nonetheless, there is little flash to be found here. Herzog films in a relentless, uncompromising style, and generates a feeling of breathless intensity, though there is also an oppressive sense of realism. The dense vegetation of the jungle could conceal most anything, whether Viet Cong soldiers or deadly animals, poisonous plants, or some other hazard.
Herzog can utilize jungle settings like no one else, and had used them effectively in Fitzcarraldo and even Aguirre, the Wrath of God, both about eccentric characters consumed by some form of irrational impulse to do what seems impossible, or at best, impractical. He chose to shoot 'Rescue Dawn' in Thailand, which says a lot about his commitment to authenticity, as he gets as close as he can to the original locations, and does not settle for either a meticulous studio recreation, or the rain forests of South America. There is not a lot of violence ot direct combat (as the PG-13 rating might imply), but there is little reason for it. This is a rather simple tale, of one man, who is blessed with either extraordinary courage and determination, or blind luck. Bale continues to challenge our conceptions of an actor's limits, and proves that he may be one of our finer thespians, whose devotion to the craft is all but unrivaled.
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