| The Definition Of The American Spirit
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Movie Review: Rescue Dawn
Recently, I've seen two movies that caused me lots of reflection. One is Sicko, the Michael Moore indictment of the country, and rightly so, of our despicable health care system. I don't care how you feel about Michael Moore, the facts, like Iraq, jump up and kick you in the posterior.
Fifty million Americans don't have health insurance and are prisoners of the Health Care industry mainly because of gutless politicians and money.
I came out of Sicko saying WE CAN DO BETTER. Well, Rescue Dawn, shows us why we can do better. It is the epitome of the American Spirit.
Rescue Dawn is set in 1965 before the Vietnam war had jumped up and kicked us in the posterior. Young and cocky Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale, who was fabulous) was German-borne but American through and through. Dengler was flying a secret rescue mission over Laos, shot down, and then captured by the Phat Lao. Rescue Dawn is the story of Dengler's escape from a Vietnamese run Pow camp. He was the only American to escape a POW camp during the Vietnam War.
Werner Herzog© MGM
| Rescue Dawn, written and directed by Werner Herzog, is really a character study or studies. It is a theatrical adaptation of Werner Herzog's documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly.
A buddy of mine actually knew Dengler who died in 2001 in Mill Valley, California of Lou Gerhig's disease. He says that Dengler credits his very tough upbringing during WW ll to his capacity to survive.
Rescue Dawn is one of those uplifting movies that is destined to stick with you. It is harsh in terms of conditions. A few holes exist in the story, but they don't take away from the movie, i. e., what happened to the rest of the POWs who escaped with Dengler.
Werner Herzog© MGM
| One gets the impression that these POWs held in Laos were not treated nearly as bad as the Hanoi Hilton heroes like John McCain. It was tough though.
Rescue Dawn had a terrific supporting cast. One character, Gene, played by Jeremy Davies was emaciated, already gone over the top and another, Duane, played by Steve Zahn, was precariously perched on the edge. For Dengler(Christian Bale), as opposed to the rest, not escaping never even entered his mind.
What was fascinating to an audience, surely me, was the physical changes that we watched as Dengler and his cohorts moved through their meager and pitiful conditions- the emaciated looks: the sunken in cheeks and the obvious "crazied" look(maybe somewhat of a thousand-yard stare) that starving brings. It was only in reading about the making of the movie did I discover how these scenes were done. It was filmed in reverse, meaning that they got the looks they wanted at the end; and, I guess, inserted them in the movie at the right time. Genius, in filmmaking, I think.
The director, Werner Herzog, has to be one of the best, merely for his versatility if for no other reason. He is also responsible for the documentary Grizzly Man, which is about the idiot who lived among the bears and they ate him.
Werner Herzog© MGM
| I am also going to order the documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly. I'd like to know more about Dengler, a true hero.
In fact, when Christian Bale as Dengler was being initially interrogated by an English speaking Laos, probably educated in the States, he is asked why he is bombing and doing these terrible things to these people. Dengler says something like, "I don't want to hurt anybody, I just wanted to fly."
There are some fascinating scenes in the movie like Dengler eating worms and maggots and making the experience like he's at a four Star restaurant. Whew! And, the best line of the movie spoken by another prisoner who simply could not grasp the idea of escape as they had already been there a year or so was, "The Jungle is the prison."
I can tell you this is true from Vietnam. As a vet, I can remember being in an open space and then traveling a few miles (clicks) and you could easily be in triple thick jungle canopy where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. In fact, I can remember spending hours helping carve out a landing zone in the jungle for helicopters. It was excruciatingly difficult, back breaking. So, escaping through it had to be a Herculean effort by Dengler.
A last thing. When the movie ended, it was unbelievably quiet. A mostly full theater and there was no talking, no usual comments, I put it as a reverent feeling. Not an easy movie to watch, but a movie experience that sticks with you, very existential.
Three parachutes, maybe four.
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