Rescue Dawn

Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies, Zach Grenier, Teerawat Mulvilai
Running Time: 126 min.
Rating: PG-13

***1/2 (out of ****)

A documentary style series used to air frequently on The Discovery Channel called I Shouldn't Be Alive, which re-enacted stories of normal people caught in incredible life or death situations. I always found it fascinating to watch not so much because of the physical lengths it would take someone to survive under such circumstances, or even the intelligence or resourcefulness, but rather the determination.

Certain human beings just have the capacity to dig down deep when faced with an unimaginable crisis and somehow against all odds pull through. Others just give up and don't make it. Or don't give up, but end up dying anyway. And luck is always a factor. Sure you could watch it and pick up tips on how to handle certain situations, but I always thought it came down to the person. You either have it or you don't and you never find out until you're put in that situation.

The story of German-born Navy pilot Dieter Dengler in Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn would fit nicely into that series. Instead though it was made into Little Dieter Needs To Fly, a 1997 documentary directed by Herzog, which told the story of this pilot on a top-secret mission during Vietnam shot down over Laos and captured. Along with the other prisoners, he eventually stages an escape. In adapting his own documentary for a feature length movie it's clear Herzog wasn't interested in just recounting the facts and telling the story "as it happened". This is far from a documentary. It has a fast pulse and keeps you guessing what will happen next despite us being fully aware how it ends. This isn't a film about war or survival. It's more a film about the limitless potential of human beings and it features two of the best acting performances this year.

One the most effective aspects of Herzog's picture is its no frills, no nonsense approach as it doesn't waste any time getting right the meat of the story within minutes. There's essentially no build-up or background and we learn very little about Dieter before his plane goes down in the jungle. Everything we do learn about him and what learns about himself comes out of the horrific predicament he finds himself in. That's exactly the way it should be and was a wise decision on Herzog's part; one I'm betting most other filmmakers wouldn't have had the intelligence to make.

They'd instead have us suffer through a long, detailed prologue about the war and force in a sub-plot about Dieter's family. It's not necessary. Everyone's aware of the toll Vietnam took on this country and how difficult it was to watch loved ones go into a battle many believed we had no business fighting. Showing restraint by keeping these issues simmering under the surface instead of exploiting them outright lends a far more disturbing mood to the film. The effects and horrors of the war are obvious in every scene of dialogue spoken and every event that occurs between the prisoners and the North Vietnamese holding them captive.

Immediately upon his arrival to the prison camp, Dieter is tortured and meets a group of other detainees who include Americans Duane Martin (Steve Zahn) and Gene Bruin (Jeremy Davies). Both of their grips on reality are slipping by the second and Dieter seems to be the only one of the group unwilling to accept the fact they all could very well die together if they make one false move. He begins to plot their escape and reasons that if they stay they'll surely die, but trying their luck in the dangerous jungle with no food or water in enemy territory gives them at least the smallest of chances. They wait until the onset of rainy season to make their move, but Dieter's plan doesn't go quite as smoothly as he'd like and he and Duane are faced to brave the elements of the unforgiving jungle and somehow signal for help with Viet Cong lurking everywhere. As far as true survival stories go, they don't get much heavier than this.

I was never one to actively seek out war films because I always thought it was ground that's been covered in every way possible. However, the ones that do leave an indelible impression on me just use war as a backdrop to tell an emotionally compelling human story. Apocalypse Now would fit into that category, and although this story is told with much more simplicity and less scope it does, like that film, examine Vietnam from an angle we haven't seen before.

There's a huge communication barrier between the North Vietnamese and their American captives in the film and it isn't all just about language. Of the group, only Dieter notices this and knows just what and what not to say to keep them all alive as long as possible to escape. It's almost like playing a game and it takes an individual with extreme patience and intelligence to master it.

The bond that forms between the detainees in the camp is based entirely on circumstance but that doesn't make it any less affecting. They learn to depend on one another and become friends whether they want to or not. Davies' Gene is difficult and marches to the beat of his own drum, challenging Dieter's escape plans at every turn. We're never quite sure how much of that attitude is his own or instead the result of the dehydration, malnutrition, extreme heat or enormous psychological stress. It could be all of the above. Whichever it is, it makes an already impossible situation that much more difficult for everyone.

It's tough to pinpoint exactly what makes Christian Bale such a phenomenal actor. He's just right there, aware and present in every moment, never needing so much as even a single line of dialogue to convey the physical and emotional torture Dieter's going through just to survive. While Bale's dramatic weight loss here thankfully doesn't come close to the dangerous level it was for The Machinist it's clear that he physically went through the wringer yet again for this role, as did his co-stars (the skeletal Davies practically looks like he's at death's door). This just further enhances Bale's reputation as one of our most dedicated, talented actors and if his work here isn't remembered come awards season there's a serious problem.

More surprisingly, Steve Zahn, who up until now had primarily been known for his quirky supporting comedy roles, is equally effective as Duane. The quirkiness is still there but this time he exploits it for great dramatic effect when Duane's sanity starts to slowly fade and his grip on reality loosens considerably as the journey wears on. The most dangerous element he must face in the battle for survival is himself.

If the film has one drawback it's that, despite it being a take on Vietnam from another angle, it is a survival story we've seen before and know exactly where it's headed. There are no surprises, but that doesn't rob the story of any tension or suspense because it's so well directed and acted. It was beautifully shot on location in the jungles of Thailand and that comes through in every scene, taking us right in there. We can almost smell it.

Credit should also go to Herzog for not being afraid to go all the way and give us the ending we all want and deserve. A lot of movies like this build to a crescendo and then just chicken out when it comes to time to pull the trigger out of a fear of coming off too sappy or emotional. Herzog knows that there's only one ending scene that's truly appropriate for this story and no one could claim he doesn't earn it.

The film has an unashamed flag waving patriotism about it that's refreshing in these times and that's never clearer than in a scene early on where Dengler is given an opportunity out of this ordeal, but at the expense of selling out his country. When the final credits rolled I was left wondering how proud Dieter Dengler and his family must be that his story was treated with this much respect and that Bale immersed himself into the role like this. When we often see "true stories" being butchered onscreen left and right these days, Rescue Dawn stands as a reminder of what adapted works are supposed to be and what great movies are all about.