Rescue Dawn

Werner Herzog has turned his documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly into a full length feature film. And it is quite an experience.

Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), who was born in Germany, moves to the US and eventually joins the Navy. His dream is to be a pilot. He is soon sent over to Vietnam and is given a mission in Laos. This is in 1965 before the war was in full force. He is shot down and taken prisoner. He meets some other prisoners including two Americans - Duane (Steve Zahn) and Gene (Jeremy Davies). He becomes close to Duane and the two of them talk of escape. However, Gene wants no part of the plan because he believes that in time he will be set free.

I will not say more about the plot. But I will say that the last 45 minutes are absolutely riveting.
Rescue Dawn is a very good film but it is also a rough ride. There were three scenes that made me want to throw up - they were very hard to watch. All of the acting is excellent. I knew that Bale was a good actor but I never knew that Zahn could be this good. By the end of the film I felt like I had been through a war. And that is exactly how I should have felt.

Seeing this film made me want to see the original documentary and I just added it to my Netflix list (not surprisingly there is a long wait). Films like Rescue Dawn just reinforces the fact that war is hell and that all efforts should be made to stop this insanity.