Rescue Dawn
DIR/WRI: Werner Herzog • PROD: Elton Brand Harry Knapp, Steve Marlton • DOP: Peter Zeitlinger • ED: Joe Bini • DES: Arin 'Aoi' Pinijvararak • CAST: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies, Gregory J. Qaiyum, Pat Healy, François Chau

Imagine being held captive by notorious Laotian soldiers. Imagine having the guts to try to escape. Imagine, against all odds, succeeding. This is the story of Dieter Dengler, the real-life POW who, on his first top-secret mission over Laos during the Vietnam War, gets shot down and held captive – and becomes the only person yet known to have escaped from Pathet Laos captivity alive. If all this is starting to sound familiar, you’re either getting on a bit, a mega history buff or you have correctly surmised that this has been done before.

In fact, Rescue Dawn is legendary director Werner Herzog’s second stab at evoking the hardship of the aforementioned hero. However, while acclaimed documentary Little Dieter needs to fly (1997) touched on the story, it wasn’t finished in the eyes of the real-life Dengler, prompting Herzog to turn the heroic misadventure into the unforgettable epic narrative that it is. Much of its success stems from the talent of lead actor Christian Bale (Batman Begins, American Psycho). As Dengler, who only ever wanted to fly, Bale is captivating and conveys the happy-go-lucky hero’s childlike innocence to perfection.

A practical joker for whom the war was only ever one big adventure, Dengler is an unlikely hero. While it is his naivety that leaves him unprepared for the torture that will befall him, it is ironically this blind optimism that leads him to the light at the end of a tunnel which, the worldlier among us would likely have never reached. Not once does his captivity dampen his natural assumption that everything will be alright and, after happily acquainting himself with his fellow captives whose spirit is almost broken, he sets about formulating a plan to escape.

Compelling performances are also delivered from supporting actors Steve Zahn (Sahara, Joy Ride) and Jeremy Davies. Momentarily freeing himself from the kooky sidekick he’s been typecast to play, Zahn is endearing and deeply affecting as the wide-eyed and vulnerable Duane, proving his metal as a serious actor. The barely sane ‘Gene from Eugene’ is harder to like. However, it is in spite of this difficulty that Jeremy Davies (Saving Private Ryan) manages to get the audience to sympathise with the selfish and uncooperative prisoner and realise that his apparent difficult nature is just his way of making bearable his utterly bleak circumstances.

The images of the torture they endure together are stark and resonating but the film never exploits the obvious potential for overt drama or a full-on gorefest. This understated downplay of the torture is complemented by Klaus Badelt’s poetic and lyrical score which conveys the tragic circumstances in a sensitive way that most dramatic action film scores simply cannot.

Primarily shot on location in the depths of the dense rainforests of Thailand, the film is visually captivating and the shots of the limestone cliffs and thick underbrush stifling movement at every turn succeeds in portraying the near impossibility of escape.

Borrowing some of its predecessor’s documentary techniques, the film is largely shot with a hand-held camera and refuses to over-rely on dialogue to convey what’s happening, the result of which is the audience truly feeling like they’re in Dengler’s shoes.

Despite the hellish environment, the film – in keeping with the fun-loving character of Dengler – is never despairing in tone and injects humour into the most unexpected situations, delivering some crowd-
pleasing gags and laugh-out-loud moments.

While it is Dengler’s basic survival that makes this story so inspiring, it is the fact that the hero’s optimistic essence and inextinguishable spirit remain intact, in spite of his circumstances, that makes Rescue Dawn the truly extraordinary survival epic that it is.

  Eva Hogan
(Read biog here)

Rated 15A (see IFCO website for details)
Rescue Dawn is released on 23rd November 2007
Rescue Dawn – Official website