Rescue Dawn

Rescue Dawn is one of my favorite types of movies, men against nature. It's why I enjoy so much the shows Survivorman and Man Vs. Wild. By no means does the movie go into the detailed levels of those shows but it doesn't have too. Just watching people walking around trying to survive in an overgrown jungle is enough for me.

Werner Herzog's film is based on and earlier documentary that he made, Little Dieter Needs to Fly. Dengler's experiences start early in the Vietnam war. Assigned to a secret, illegal bombing mission over Laos, he is shot down, and the film involves his experiences as a prisoner of war, his escape and his fight for survival in the jungle.

I have basically described the whole movie to you. That is all that happens and that is what makes it so great. The action or suspense is never pumped up for dramatic effect. We simply watch these men going about their daily lives in this horrible place and trying to survive.

Christian Bale basically can't not be interesting in any film. Even though he was in a movie I hated last year (Harsh Times) he was the best thing in it. Here he plays something so against what I was expecting that it threw me for a loop. The way he handles his situations is both inspiring and completely natural. He also continues his streak of using a different accent in each of his films, this time using an American one with just a slight hint of German. Steve Zahn also turns in his best performance. No so much acting as responding to his surroundings. His eyes are hollow and he always seems to be on the verge of falling over.

I also wanted to make special mention of the music. It is all strings with some synthesizers. I'm not sure if this makes sense but it is so against type for this genre of film that it somehow works perfectly. It is not not upbeat adventure music, but brooding and introspective.