sol- Based on the true story of a US soldier shot down by the Vietcong and taken prisoner, 'Rescue Dawn' looks at one of the darkest sides of the Vietnam War in unflinching detail. The madness of war truly comes out as Vietcong fighters bark orders at him in Vietnamese, which is gibberish to him, and as he is taken to a prison camp where none of the guards know English. The prison camp scenes are by far the best part of the film with the protagonist showing ingenuity in obtaining nails and other resources to plot an eventual escape. The tension is nail-biting too, with a constant sense of danger in the air as him and his fellow prisoners-of-war fear the Vietcong catching onto their plans. The protagonist's trek to safety after escaping, which takes up pretty much the entire second half, unfortunately pales in comparison to this section. There are still plenty of dangers, but without the claustrophobia of the prison camp and constant worry of being found out, it is just not quite the same. The film also falls into extremely sentimental territory towards the end with a handful of scenes depicting events that may worked better as title cards. When at its best though, 'Rescue Dawn' is an incredibly immersive experience, capped off with some eerie early scenes in which the protagonist scoffs at various training films, utterly unaware of what is about to come his way.

steeledanton So, Mister Christian Bale is on his way to the Gulf Of Tonkin during a 1965 war zone incident.His airplane is malfunctioning. He is told that he should abort. He decides he can land it and angle it so that he can survive somehow. He does that! But hes' in the jungle, and there are little bad Chinese people chasing him...and hes wet in a flight suit running ,running into palm fronds in the jungle. He gets so lucky. And then he gets caught. Put in a POW camp.His captor has swagger, sunglasses..lots of stuff, unbuttoned shirt and shi*. I shouldn't say that, but its one way to look at things...and so: He is so lucky, he gets put into this place with other native American and regular American fellas, BUT swears HES a German. and from there...the rest of the film becomes a sad event..like being in a group home or something.

William Samuel Part war movie, part prison film, and part jungle-survival tale, Rescue Dawn tells the true story of US Navy pilot Dieter Dengler (played here by Christian Bale), who after being shot down and captured during a mission over Laos, escaped from a Vietcong prison camp and trekked hundreds of miles through the jungle before being rescued by American Helicopters.The story proceeds very quickly at first. After some mission briefings and a visit to the quartermaster's office, Dieter flies his bombing run and is promptly shot down. His efforts to evade capture succeed only briefly, and soon he is an unwilling companion to a Vietcong patrol which delivers him to a remote prison camp. Here he meets his fellow prisoners; Gene, Duane, and three South Vietnamese, all of whom were pilots for Transamerica Airlines.These men have been here for over a year- two and a half in Gene's case- and the strain of their confinement clearly shows. Gene in particular has started to come unhinged. His ramblings and delusions provide a degree of comic relieve and generate sympathy, but at the same time his fractured mental state poses a threat to Dieter's plans of escape. In his mind, the fighting will end and they'll be released any day now, as long as they behave themselves and don't try anything stupid. The contest of wills provides one of the main conflicts in the middle section of the film. But it's in the movie's second half, beginning with the escape, that things really pick up. From here on out the good guys are alone and on the run deep in enemy territory. To be caught is almost certainly to be killed.The truly inspiring thing about this movie is how Dieter never allows himself to be broken, no matter what he goes through. Given the chance to receive better treatment by signing an anti-American proclamation, he refuses. Shackled to the floor of his hut by night and given insufficient food by jailers, he encourages the others, while holding on to his determination to escape. And no matter how tired he gets, or how many setbacks he suffers on his jungle trek, he finds a way to keep pressing on.Hertzog has done a good job with the casting. Bales' intensity and his willingness to take on physically and mentally challenging roles make him an excellent choice play the lead in this film. It's not every actor who will agree claw his way through dense jungle underbrush, float through rapids, or be covered in leeches. This being a Herzog film, there are no back lot sets or computer effects when actual locations and old fashioned stunt work will do. And as always, the director captures the beauty of his jungle surroundings, even when emphasizing their inhospitableness. When you think about it, Rescue Dawn has a much in common with a survival program on the Discovery Channel as with the average 'Nam movie.Hertzog is also wise to avoid going into the larger issues surrounding the Vietnam War, neither taking a stance for, or against American policy and actions in the conflict. Such questions are beyond the scope of this story, and would only strike a moralizing tone. Although far from his best work, Rescue Dawn is a highly engaging and inspiring story of one man's unbeatable will.

ryklinker On his first mission, pilot Dieter Dengler seems pretty confident. He leans back in his chair and cracks jokes as he watches the training video, and he pops into the cockpit of his plane with pride. His mission, along with a few other pilots, is to bomb Viet Cong positions in neighboring Laos, and he succeeds in this mission. Just moments after his payload is dropped, anti-aircraft rounds shred his left wing, and he crashes in the wetlands of the island terrain. He grabs the few parts of his gear that survived the crash, and goes in search of shelter and water. When he finds a stream, he leans over to drink, and a machine gun's tip greets him as he lifts his head back up. After the long trek across the jungle, including numerous torture tactics, he is left in a POW camp in the middle of the jungle with only 4 fellow prisoners. From here on, it is Dengler's survival instincts and cunning that will keep him and his cell mates alive. Based on the true story of Lieutenant Dieter Dengler, Rescue Dawn is a film about survival, and what lengths it takes to preserve one's life. From the various torture and imprisonment scenes to the final scenes in the Laotian jungle, this film is told just like a true story should be told. Christian Bale plays the role of Dengler, and he does a very good job of it. Famous for his fluctuating body weight, Bale lost 55 pounds to play the emaciated Dengler at the end of the film, and costars Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies both lost around 30 pounds each. Although it isn't quite award-winning, Bale's performance is well executed, and both Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies are good in their character roles. Putting aside the acting, another great aspect of this film is the cinematography. Like the acting, although it is not exactly award- worthy, the camera-work is very well done. At times, the scenes are filmed like documentary pieces, and that is a perfect storytelling tool in this case. With the cameramen undoubtedly down in the mud and harsh conditions of the jungle, the director of photography and his team had their work pay off. Now for the negative notes. I found certain aspects of the prison portion of the film to be improper or just plain wrong. The major piece of evidence is the portrayal of the guards. With the list of guards including a "little person", a man who is always doing martial arts against an invisible opponent, and a man who simply just yells all of the time, I wasn't sure if these men where true representations, or the director was making an ill attempt at comic relief. Either way, I found it unsuitable for the context of the film. In addition to the improper characters, I found the film to be quite slow. I acknowledge that the real events weren't exactly hopping with eye-catching moments, but I found myself repeatedly checking to see how far into the running time I was. Though it is not necessarily a classic war film like a Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, or the like, Rescue Dawn is a pretty good film.www.sportsandcelluloid.blogspot.com