"Rescue Dawn" (2006) - Movie Review

“Rescue Dawn” inspires from the true story of Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), whose plane was shot down in Vietnam, got captured and then organized an escape from the prison camp with other POWs. We have seen the unrealistic Hollywood escape movies and the more touching real ones too. It falls in the latter category I described and yet I feel it is not something to be categorized. Director Werner Herzog gives more than an escape story. It is a survival ordeal of a single man eternally optimistic in every thing and still practical enough to eye out the details for a neat plan to be alive.

The worst kind of prison is to get stuck in jungle with no food whatsoever. The first day when Dieter arrives at the prison camp, he hears it from Duane Martin (Steve Zahn). “Jungle is the real prison” he says and we will soon realize it. It is beauty to watch the nature as a pleasurable sight seeing experience and when we touch in deep, it is not a civilization and the assumed necessities need to be fought. We humans underestimate and create an ego so easily over Mother Nature. And out here we see it painfully and with resources abundant yet no way to reach it perfectly without any doubt.

The film starts off with Dieter about to embark his first mission. You should hear his aspiration of becoming a pilot. It is frightening, funny and inspirational. Dieter a born German landed on US to fulfill his dream to fly. His view towards war is sure seems to be neutral but his zeal to fly has brought him to the death zone. This is not a war movie. This is a look into a human being human in an inhuman condition. To retain the sense of humanity becomes the prime objective of survival. In the middle of it, there are conflicts, fights and a friendship of pure love.

When a new pupil comes in a prison camp, it forms as a small group of civilization. There they form their group, the leaders, entertainment etc. When Dieter comes in, he takes no time to mingle in. His high energy to keep his head above water gives some form of hope to these prisoners. They have built a false hope for more than two years having the idea of being released and the concept of war negligent. Eugene (Jeremy Davies) is one of those who do not want to believe in the truth Dieter says. Eugene has lost his touch with sanity being in the hole for a long time. So does rest of the others but Eugene firmly believes that there is going to be a free release that he is even ready to foil the plans of Dieter’s. It does not develop into the animosity we have seen in movies before. Even after the scary talk, they all come together to wish Dieter his birthday and offer him a concoction of weird plants or creatures.

The film creates this miserable situational humour through editing. It is out of their misery but even they would have laughed in real events and that makes it humorous in this intolerable ordeal. Bale and Zahn carry the friendship of Dengler and Martin to something which makes it every bit of true and real emotion to it. And the way both weave in and compliment each other makes their jungle struggle one of the memorable tragic events.

It has been laboriously shot. You know they are cutting a fresh thick bush with machete which is totally untouched, hence becoming totally unknown and dangerous. It is dangerous for the venomous creatures they might mess around. It can be easily observed of how much the technical crew has to work on their way into the fierce river, muddy soggy ambience and morale so low to be depicted over the screen. And with all the actors portraying prisoners losing their weight ridiculously, it droops on to us on how tired and helpless each of them is.

Dieter Dengler is the only other prisoner who made out alive escaping from the Prison Camp. Werner Herzog made a documentary before this titled “Little Dieter Needs to Fly” which is going to be in my film queue. This is a film which tells us why we are so fragile and also so hopeful. It warns us on how the mind can never really be sane when the situation around you makes it tougher and harder to stay in touch with reality. Dieter did have luck favour him which it did not for rest of his fellow prisoners. But it is the spirit, survival, optimism and the hope which kept him happy in those dreadful days and alive forever.