Rescue Dawn

February 1966. Navy pilot Dieter Dengler launches from the USS Ranger in his A-1 Skyraider, heading into Laos on a covert mission. Minutes later, anti-aircraft fire tears through his plane. Dengler crashes into the jungle, survives, but is quickly captured by villagers who hand him over to Pathet Lao soldiers. What follows is a story of endurance that Werner Herzog first told in his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly. Here, he dramatizes the same events with Christian Bale in the lead.

Bale dropped to 110 pounds for the role, eating one apple and one can of tuna a day during the final weeks of shooting. Steve Zahn lost 40 pounds to play Duane Martin, a fellow prisoner who has been in captivity for over a year. Herzog shot on location in Thailand and Luxembourg, refusing soundstages. The jungle in the film is real, mud, leeches, heat. The budget was $10 million. The film grossed $7.2 million worldwide. But critical reception was strong: a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 77 on Metacritic.

This is not a typical Vietnam war movie. There are no firefights, no platoon bonding, no flag-waving. The enemy is mostly absent after the first act. The real antagonist is the jungle itself, indifferent, beautiful, lethal. And the question at the film's center is not about winning a war. It is about what keeps a person moving when every rational reason to give up has already passed. [edit]

Dieter Dengler grew up in Germany during World War II, watching American bombers fly overhead. He dreamed of being a pilot. By 1966, he was one. On a mission over Laos, his Skyraider is hit. He ejects, lands in dense jungle, and is captured within hours by villagers. They tie him up and march him to a province governor, who offers him a deal: sign a document condemning the United States, and go free. Dengler refuses. The governor shrugs. The torture begins.

Dengler is transferred to a remote prison camp deep in the jungle. The camp is small: a few bamboo huts, six guards, and a handful of prisoners. Duane Martin has been there for eighteen months. He is emaciated, hollow-eyed, barely alive. Gene DeBruin has been there even longer. He has made a strange peace with captivity, believing the guards will eventually release them if they just cooperate. There is also Y.C. To, a Hong Kong Chinese radio operator; Phisit Intharathat, a Thai freight employee; and Procet, another prisoner. They are all starving.

At night, the prisoners are tethered to a heavy wooden log, their hands bound. They cannot move. During the day, they are fed bowls of rice or, sometimes, maggots and worms. Dengler forces himself to eat with a smile. He steals a nail and, over weeks, fashions it into a lock pick. At night, when the guards sleep, he picks his handcuffs and those of the others. They can move now, stretch, whisper. Hope begins to flicker.

Dengler starts planning an escape. The goal is the Mekong River, then Thailand. But Gene opposes him. He threatens to sabotage any attempt. He believes the guards will let them go. Duane is torn. The other prisoners are afraid. Dengler pushes forward anyway. He maps the camp, notes the guards' routines, hides food. The tension between the prisoners becomes as brutal as the conditions around them.

The plan is simple: during a specific moment when the guards are distracted, the prisoners will overpower them, grab their weapons, and run. But when the moment comes, nothing goes smoothly. One group hesitates. Another panics. In the chaos, nearly all the guards are killed, but the prisoners are scattered, with little food and no clear direction. Dengler and Duane head into the jungle together. Gene and the others disappear in another direction.

The second half of the film follows Dengler and Duane through the Laotian jungle. They eat snakes, pull leeches from their skin, drink from muddy streams. Rain falls constantly. Their bodies break down. Duane, already weakened from years of captivity, deteriorates faster. Dengler drags him, carries him, screams at him to keep moving. They have no map, no compass. They navigate by the sun, by instinct, by the distant hope of the Mekong.[edit]