Rescue Dawn: DVD

This film tell the story of Dieter Dengler, a German born American, who on his first sortie as a Naval pilot in the early beginnings of Vietnam is shot down and taken hostage in Laos. Dengler, through his ever present disarming optimism and knack for tool making, convinces the other captives, who were all part of the CIA Air America program and in captivity for years, to break out. Tensions are high and in the end this true story can only be believed if we believe Dengler, played by Christan Bale (Batman Begins, American Pyscho).

Once they escape, Dengler and another hostage Duane Martin become separated from the others and work their way back towards civilization. The remaining time of the movie is the trials these two face in that self rescue.

Bales does an outstanding job once again of losing himself in character. There are few movies he has done where you see an A list actor on the screen. I think of Val Kilmer (a fellow Batman) who made a career completely losing himself in character, though did so to such a point that he was forgettable, which ultimately is unfortunate.

Bale is accompanied by Steve Zahn (Sahara, You've Got Mail) who plays Duane Martin. There is an easy friendship between Bale and Zahn as there was been the real Dengler and Martin. You can see, that beyond the acting, these two actors bonded on set in a real way.

The gem of the DVD release is the making of documentary. In fact my wife, who doesn't like Special Features in the least, remarked that this doc was the best she'd ever watched. Werner Herzog, the director, went to great pains and considerable physical effort on his own part to create a realistic world for the movie to move in. There is almost no CGI and no stage work. The vast bulk of this movie is filmed in the triple canopy jungles of south-east Asia with the main characters and the director in direct line of danger, filming in wild rivers and immovable jungle.


A final note. This is a slow movie, suitable perhaps for theater viewing but the long pans can be a bore on the small screen. If your able to do so, speed up your player to cut some time. Also there are some conversations that are difficult to follow and I personally use the subtitles on most DVD's at home so I don't have to rewind due to missing valuable plot info. In this case the subtitles will help you understand the Asian dialects a bit better.