Rescue Dawn

DIETER (CHRISTIAN Bales) snakes through the jungles of Thailand in "Rescue Dawn."

'Resue Dawn' tells of life as POW
“Rescue Dawn” opens with a bunch of Vietnam soldiers watching a film about how to survive if shot down over the jungles.
Their knives are their friends. Learn how to catch water in leaves and drink it.
One of the soldiers offers a comedic commentary to the film, which is reminiscent of those high school health films.
The story turns deadly when one laughing soldier, Lt. Dieter Dengler, is shot down over Laos and taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese.
Dieter, played by Christian Bale, is tortured. He’s asked to sign a document denouncing the U.S. He refuses.
At one point, he is a victim of waterboarding. A Vietnamese soldier points a gun at his head and fires, narrowly missing his ear and making him go deaf temporarily.
Based on a true story, it was written and directed by Werner Herzog, best known for the epic film “Fitzcarraldo.”
Soon, he becomes a prisoner of war, eating a taste-tempting diet of worms and maggots to stay alive.
Dengler and his fellow prisoners fight to survive. They are shackled at night, until Dengler pilfers a nail and uses it to spring them each night.
His fellow prisoners are an eclectic bunch. Concentration-camp thin Gene (played by Jeremy Davies), insists there are peace talks going and if they sit tight, the war will soon be over.
There’s also Duane, played by Steve Zahn, who feels all is lost.
Dengler becomes the leader of the group. He tells of being born in Germany during World War II. He decided he wanted to be a pilot after an American bombed his village and gave him a sort of look as he went by. The boy’s home may have been destroyed, but that’s when he decided to be a pilot himself.
Times get tougher in the camp. The guards are getting meaner because there’s no food. Dengler decides something must be done to escape.
The problem is the bigger prison is the jungle and it is unforgiving.
The target date for escape is July 4, but circumstances move it to July 3.
The escape attempt doesn’t go well. The men are so emotionally drained, they perform poorly. The POW survivors quickly are reduced to the Bale and Zahn characters.
Zahn’s character is stabbed to death by local tribesman and the Bale character is the last one remaining.
It ain’t over yet, though. A waterfall, the snakes, the bugs, the villagers all put up a challenge for Zale.
When copters fly by, he waves his arms at them. They ignore him. He burns a village to attract attention. They shoot at him.
This is a by-the-book examination of life as a POW. You feel for these guys.
The jungles do look beautiful, so very green, on the Blu-Ray transfer.
If your Netflix list is getting long, this would be a good one to schedule for Memorial Day weekend, to get an idea of what these guys suffered.
Read more viper columns at videoviper@blogspot.com.
RESCUE DAWN
• Rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense war violence and torture
• Runtime 126 minutes
• Directed by Werner Herzog
• 3 stars out of 4 stars
This appeared in the Star Beacon Weekender on April 25, 2008.