Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on May 17, 2016 1:47:40 GMT -5
Rescue Dawn
Dir. Werner Herzog
Premiered July 4, 2007
In 2004, actor Christian Bale made headlines by losing a dangerous amount of weight in order to perform the starring role in Brad Anderson’s The Machinist. Three years later, he did it again, this time to star in Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn. The Machinist never received a wide release, and is remembered today only as “the movie that Christian Bale got really skinny for.” Rescue Dawn, as far as can be told, isn’t remembered at all.
In 1998, Herzog directed the television documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly, on which his later Rescue Dawn is based. Both films tell the story of Dieter Dengler, a German immigrant to the United States whose dreams of being a pilot landed him in the US Navy during the Vietnam War, only to be shot down over Laos during a secret mission, captured by the Pathet Lao, tortured by the North Vietnamese Army, and imprisoned with several American and allied servicemen who’d been there so long that they didn’t know America was in the war. Dengler led his fellow detainees to escape. One of only two to emerge alive, he powered through the jungle to an unlikely rescue, all over the course of six months.
Watching Little Dieter Needs to Fly, I began to worry over if Bale was able to capture Dengler’s jovial charisma or his atypical German-American accent. In Rescue Dawn, he uses a light touch with both, which is the best choice, as a more faithful depiction would have been too intense.
Although Werner Herzog has become the face– and more importantly, the voice– of Germanic Depression, he has always betrayed an unbending optimism, without which he would never have become equally famous for his boundless ambition. Yet I don’t feel that ambition in Rescue Dawn. Mind you, Herzog loves the jungle, expertly shows the mechanics of Dieter’s struggle to survive, and makes a compelling case for Dengler’s desperate companionship with fellow prisoner Duane Martin (Steve Zahn), but while a good film on all accounts, it neither reaches the psychotic depths of Aguirre, the Wrath of God nor the soaring highs of Fitzcarraldo.
Sign this was made in 2007
What does Rescue Dawn have in common with Smokin’ Aces? Both prominently feature members of the cast of Lost. Here, it’s Jeremy Davies, unfairly depicted as mentally broken Gene DeBruin, and François Chau in a single scene as a provincial governor.
Next Time: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Dir. Werner Herzog
Premiered July 4, 2007
In 2004, actor Christian Bale made headlines by losing a dangerous amount of weight in order to perform the starring role in Brad Anderson’s The Machinist. Three years later, he did it again, this time to star in Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn. The Machinist never received a wide release, and is remembered today only as “the movie that Christian Bale got really skinny for.” Rescue Dawn, as far as can be told, isn’t remembered at all.
In 1998, Herzog directed the television documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly, on which his later Rescue Dawn is based. Both films tell the story of Dieter Dengler, a German immigrant to the United States whose dreams of being a pilot landed him in the US Navy during the Vietnam War, only to be shot down over Laos during a secret mission, captured by the Pathet Lao, tortured by the North Vietnamese Army, and imprisoned with several American and allied servicemen who’d been there so long that they didn’t know America was in the war. Dengler led his fellow detainees to escape. One of only two to emerge alive, he powered through the jungle to an unlikely rescue, all over the course of six months.
Watching Little Dieter Needs to Fly, I began to worry over if Bale was able to capture Dengler’s jovial charisma or his atypical German-American accent. In Rescue Dawn, he uses a light touch with both, which is the best choice, as a more faithful depiction would have been too intense.
Although Werner Herzog has become the face– and more importantly, the voice– of Germanic Depression, he has always betrayed an unbending optimism, without which he would never have become equally famous for his boundless ambition. Yet I don’t feel that ambition in Rescue Dawn. Mind you, Herzog loves the jungle, expertly shows the mechanics of Dieter’s struggle to survive, and makes a compelling case for Dengler’s desperate companionship with fellow prisoner Duane Martin (Steve Zahn), but while a good film on all accounts, it neither reaches the psychotic depths of Aguirre, the Wrath of God nor the soaring highs of Fitzcarraldo.
Sign this was made in 2007
What does Rescue Dawn have in common with Smokin’ Aces? Both prominently feature members of the cast of Lost. Here, it’s Jeremy Davies, unfairly depicted as mentally broken Gene DeBruin, and François Chau in a single scene as a provincial governor.
Next Time: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
