Rescue Dawn

FLICK Adept at directing both documentaries and fiction, Werner Herzog has dramatized his real-life story Little Dieter Needs to Fly, about navy fighter pilot Dieter Dengler who was shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War and held captive in a prison camp.
Herzog transcends typical war clichés about survival to focus this compelling movie on bonding and camaraderie. That doesn’t mean he shies away from the nightmare of torture. Christian Bale excels as Dengler, appearing to do his own dangerous stunts as when we see him close to drowning in a well, having a Fear Factor moment at meal time and being dragged while having his hands and feet tied to the back of a cow. Apparently on the same diet as when he starred in The Machinist, Bale, along with an intensely gaunt Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies, not only create the physically emaciated look of POWs, but present a convincing range of emotions that match the naturalness of their surroundings. Bale exudes an unexpected but appropriate calmness and confidence as Dengler concocts an escape plan not knowing where they are or what they will encounter on their trek. There are no unnecessarily contrived moments nor the conspicuous use of special effects. You’re always aware that they are really in the middle of the jungle, which, like a documentary, lends realness to the hunted evading the hunters but here involves the survival of the fittest using their wits.
Though there is an unavoidable urge to relate it to the current war in Iraq, Herzog distinguishes Rescue Dawn by keeping the focus on the empathy and humanity of the captives. This is particularly true of Dengler (Bale) and Duane (Zahn) holding onto hope and their commitment to watching each other’s backs in order to get out alive in the midst of a hell zone. My Score: 9 out of 10.