In "Rescue Dawn," Christian Bale plays Dieter Dengler, a navy pilot who was shot down over Laos in 1966. He spent many months in a prisoner-of-war camp not far from the Ho Chi Minh Trail, suffering torture and starvation along with the half dozen or so other men who were imprisoned with him. A man of great determination and resourcefulness, Dengler engineered a daring escape that earned him the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross and a Purple Heart.
"Rescue Dawn" was directed by Werner Herzog, the world-famous auteur of such visionary films as "Aguirre, the Wrath of God," "Fitzcarraldo" and "Grizzly Man." Given that pedigree, one is struck by just how conventional a piece of film-making "Rescue Dawn" turns out to be (Herzog made a documentary on Dengler, entitled "Little Dieter Needs to Fly," in 1997). Perhaps because the director found himself hemmed in by the biographical nature of the material, "Rescue Dawn" feels pretty much like every other prisoner-of-war film set during the Vietnam Era (and before). The main distinction of this movie lies not in its plot details or character insights but in the fact that Bale and several of the other actors were willing to go on drastic diets and drop massive amounts of weight in order to achieve their emaciated looks. With their ribs and spines clearly sticking out through their taut skin, the actors never allow us to doubt for a moment their total commitment either to the material or to their art. The problem is that it becomes such a distraction to us in the audience that it may actual have the opposite effect than what was intended. We begin to worry more about the actors than about the characters, questioning whether any role is worth putting one's health and life at risk in such a manner. In other words, rather than drawing us deeper into the story, it actually winds up pushing us away.
Reservations aside, it is important to note that "Rescue Dawn" is still a film well worth seeing. It is superbly acted by Bale, Jeremy Davies and Steve Zahn (as two of his fellow POWs), and features any number of disturbing, harrowing moments as we watch men, pushed to the limit of their endurance, trying to keep hope alive even after all reason for hope has vanished. We watch in complete empathy as deprivation, confinement and emotional abuse take their toll on the characters' bodies, psyches and spirits. The last half hour of the film, in particular, is poignant and heartbreaking as the men become increasingly desperate in their efforts to stay alive.
I wish the filmmakers had provided some clue as to what happened to some of the other prisoners after they and Dengler part company late in the film. We're happy that things eventually worked out well for Dengler, but we would like to know how the other characters we've come to care about fared as well. I imagine that Dengler himself would have wanted it that way.
"Rescue Dawn" was directed by Werner Herzog, the world-famous auteur of such visionary films as "Aguirre, the Wrath of God," "Fitzcarraldo" and "Grizzly Man." Given that pedigree, one is struck by just how conventional a piece of film-making "Rescue Dawn" turns out to be (Herzog made a documentary on Dengler, entitled "Little Dieter Needs to Fly," in 1997). Perhaps because the director found himself hemmed in by the biographical nature of the material, "Rescue Dawn" feels pretty much like every other prisoner-of-war film set during the Vietnam Era (and before). The main distinction of this movie lies not in its plot details or character insights but in the fact that Bale and several of the other actors were willing to go on drastic diets and drop massive amounts of weight in order to achieve their emaciated looks. With their ribs and spines clearly sticking out through their taut skin, the actors never allow us to doubt for a moment their total commitment either to the material or to their art. The problem is that it becomes such a distraction to us in the audience that it may actual have the opposite effect than what was intended. We begin to worry more about the actors than about the characters, questioning whether any role is worth putting one's health and life at risk in such a manner. In other words, rather than drawing us deeper into the story, it actually winds up pushing us away.
Reservations aside, it is important to note that "Rescue Dawn" is still a film well worth seeing. It is superbly acted by Bale, Jeremy Davies and Steve Zahn (as two of his fellow POWs), and features any number of disturbing, harrowing moments as we watch men, pushed to the limit of their endurance, trying to keep hope alive even after all reason for hope has vanished. We watch in complete empathy as deprivation, confinement and emotional abuse take their toll on the characters' bodies, psyches and spirits. The last half hour of the film, in particular, is poignant and heartbreaking as the men become increasingly desperate in their efforts to stay alive.
I wish the filmmakers had provided some clue as to what happened to some of the other prisoners after they and Dengler part company late in the film. We're happy that things eventually worked out well for Dengler, but we would like to know how the other characters we've come to care about fared as well. I imagine that Dengler himself would have wanted it that way.