Rescue Dawn

Little Dieter Needs to Fly, a documentary by Werner Herzog tell us the life of Dieter Dengler a pilot of the U.S. Navy whose plane was shot down while carrying secret bombing mission over the Laos territory. The documentary itself then became the background of Rescue Dawn, also directed by Werner Herzog, and starring Christian Bale as Lt. Dieter Dengler.


The first minute of the movie show us, Dieter and his squadron of 4 men, take on mission to do a bombing run within Laos territory. Dieter's plane rolled in and quickly lost sight of others. After done the bombing his plane got hit by anti-aircraft gun. He was told to eject but he refused it. Soon he found himself deep within Laos territory with the rebels in pursuit. Not long after that, he got caught and taken to a Lao prison camp. He then met with fellow prisoner, Duane Martin (Steve Zahn), Eugene DeBruin (Jeremy Davies) together with Thai prisoners.


In the first hour of the movie, which run for 125 mins., the psychology of prisoner of war was greatly shown by Herzog. How they're starving, they're planning an escape plan, also how desperate the situation is. And it's not like the other U.S. anti-Vietkong proganda movie like Rambo and Missing In Action, Rescue Dawn shows the real deal. Christian Bale and Steve Zahn also managed to optimized their talent.


But then again it's not a perfect movie, because in some point this film add more things and also subtract some of it historical element. Like the Walkie-Talkie character which is not a real one, or the fact that the other prisoner already planned an escape before Dieter's arrival. But Herzog did exceptionally works here, and this film deserve praises.