It's not often a film-maker moves from a documentary to a feature film with actors covering much the same material but then Werner Herzog isn't your average film-maker. In 1997 he made "Little Dieter Needs to Fly", a documentary about Dieter Dengler, a U.S. naval pilot shot down over Laos, taken prisoner and who then escaped into the jungle. Perhaps in an effort to reach a wider audience, in 2006, he made "Rescue Dawn", a dramatization of Dieter's story starring Christian Bale and it's a humdinger of a movie with another typically brilliant Bale performance and some remarkably good work from co-stars Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies.
If you'd seen or even heard of the documentary you would know the scenario and if you know Herzog you know you're in for a rough ride. Unlike other Vietnam movies this isn't a political picture but a story of survival in terrain that Fitzcarraldo or Aguirre might have felt at home in. Superbly shot, mostly in Thailand, by Peter Zeitlinger, this is a gruelling, exciting picture that throws us into the action from the outset and, typical of Herzog, it's also very different from other POW films. It's certainly not an easy watch but then with Herzog, did you really think it would be?
It's not often a film-maker moves from a documentary to a feature film with actors covering much the same material but then Werner Herzog isn't your average film-maker. In 1997 he made "Little Dieter Needs to Fly", a documentary about Dieter Dengler, a U.S. naval pilot shot down over Laos, taken prisoner and who then escaped into the jungle. Perhaps in an effort to reach a wider audience, in 2006, he made "Rescue Dawn", a dramatization of Dieter's story starring Christian Bale and it's a humdinger of a movie with another typically brilliant Bale performance and some remarkably good work from co-stars Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies.
If you'd seen or even heard of the documentary you would know the scenario and if you know Herzog you know you're in for a rough ride. Unlike other Vietnam movies this isn't a political picture but a story of survival in terrain that Fitzcarraldo or Aguirre might have felt at home in. Superbly shot, mostly in Thailand, by Peter Zeitlinger, this is a gruelling, exciting picture that throws us into the action from the outset and, typical of Herzog, it's also very different from other POW films. It's certainly not an easy watch but then with Herzog, did you really think it would be?
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