Rescue Dawn is a remarkable film directed by Werner Herzog. It is a dramatized version of the true escape of 7 POWs from the Ban Houei Het Pathet Lao Prison in 1966. Although there are aspects that have been fictionalized, it is an intense and emotional film. .

Rescue Dawn focuses on Dieter Dengler, a German-born US Navy fighter pilot during the Vietnam war. In 1965, as US involvement in the Vietnam war begins to intensify, Dieter flies out as part of a four aircraft secret mission against North Vietnam. Due to poor visibility, he loses his way and his plane is shot down over Laos.  As he went down, he ejected from the plane and survived the crash. He soon falls into the hands of the Pathet Lao, the communist organization that had been supported by North Vietnam.

After he is captured, Dieter is mercilessly tortured by being tied to a cow and dragged around; having his face shoved and held underwater; and being tied upside down, smeared with honey and having an ant's nest tied to his face. Afterwards he is told that if he signs a paper denouncing the US imperialist war he will be released. He refuses because he loves the US and is thankful for the opportunities that the country has offered to him. He is then taken to a prison camp made up of crude huts where he meets five other prisoners. The prisoners are emaciated shells of their former selves, ravaged by torture, hunger, and imprisonment. Two of the prisoners are Americans - Duane Martin, and Eugene DeBruin. The other three are Asians - YC, Procet, and Phisit.

Eugene and Duane constantly bicker and complain about each other, an unfortunate result of being imprisoned together for two years. With all of the hunger, illness, and torture that they have experienced, as well as being shackled together during the night and having to spend every single day together, they have gotten to the point of unfortunately taking out their anger and frustration against one another. Dengler quickly connects with the sensitive and fragile Duane and the two become friends. Eugene is a deeper character and the subject of some controversy. He has dealt with his imprisonment by withdrawing into himself and creating his own protective little world. He shuts out the reality around him and is thus harder to reach in terms of friendship. Although he has been described negatively as downright deranged, mean, and cowardly, I think that he is neither of those things. He is unable to mentally deal with the situation that he is in and has created a place of comfort and refuge in his own mind. That does not make him deranged or mean. When Dieter presents a plan to escape from the prison camp, Eugene is the only one who protests and many people see him as cowardly for doing so. I think it is not that simple. Part of the mental place of refuge that he has created is that there is no real war taking place and that the prisoners will soon be released. If someone takes that away from him, the safe little world that he created will collapse and he will have nothing but the cold, cruel reality that he cannot bear. So in order to keep his mental refuge, he threatens to expose the escape plans to the guards. Similar behavior can be seen among concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust, which leads people to question why they did not fight back or rebel against their captors instead of going "like sheep to the slaughter".  
People imprisoned in camps have been broken down both physically and mentally, thus bringing down their powers of resistance and increasing their fear.  It is more common for them not to rebel against their captors.  That does not mean that they are cowardly, I think it is unfair to judge someone who has undergone torture and captivity because the human mind is not so simple and people react in different ways. So the character of Gene is actually very realistic and well played.

Rescue Dawn has extraordinary cinematography. The lush jungle seems beautiful as well as intimidating, deep, and full of danger. The jungle scenes reminded me somewhat of the German Romantic movement such as the Grimm fairy tales where people try to find their way out of the forest and the forest itself comes alive with danger. The cast is superb, especially Jeremy Davies as Eugene, Christian Bale as Dieter, Steve Zahn as Duane, and Galen Yuen as YC.. In addition to their fantastic acting, they went beyond the call of duty and put themselves in danger during filming. They came into contact with dangerous and poisonous creatures, lost dangerous amounts of weight, and roughed it with no trailers and no amenities. Even Werner Herzog roughed it, he did not ask his actors to do anything that he did not do himself. Rescue Dawn is a well acted and emotionally moving film.

Tags: jeremy davies, rescue dawn, werner herzog
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