A harrowing tale of survival in the Vietnam War

By PHIL VILLARREAL
Arizona Daily Star
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

When you're a prisoner of war marooned in the jungle, there's no time to panic. When an animal tries to bite you, you bite back. When a waterfall sweeps you away to oblivion, you clench your teeth and reach for the shoreline.

A hellacious tale of survival, "Rescue Dawn" is the story of Dieter Dengler, a U.S. Navy pilot stationed at the Gulf of Tonkin who was shot down over Laos during a secret bombing raid in 1965 during the Vietnam War.

Played with ferociousness by Christian Bale, Dengler was captured, tortured and locked away in a prison camp, only to escape barefoot and survive for several days before he was picked up by a rescue chopper. He is believed to be one of only seven Americans to escape a Viet Cong prison camp.

Captors fling Dengler into a bamboo hut that includes other Americans who have been there for years, including the skittish Gene (Jeremy Davies) and the downtrodden Duane (Steve Zahn).

Each night, Dengler and his cell mates are shackled together while they sleep. By day, armed guards march in grim patrol. The rest of the prisoners have resigned themselves to a fate of perpetual captivity, but not Dengler, whose fresh eyes spot holes in the containment.

An inmate shoots down one of Dengler's plans by telling him the real prison is not the bamboo walls, but the jungle itself. It's a truth Dengler discovers for himself when he pulls off his haphazard escape, waiting for the rainy season so he won't die of dehydration.

Once alone in the jungle, Dengler survives on wit and grit. He uses man-sized leaves as blankets, drinks whatever rainwater he can collect. In one scene he apparently grabs a live snake and rips the flesh off it with his teeth. Another time he kindles fire from nothing to flag down an American helicopter, only to be mistaken as the enemy and fired upon. In an act of near-silly defiance, Dieter shakes his fist into the air and calls the pilot an idiot.

Shot in the jungles of Thailand, the film practically makes you taste the stifling air and feel the hip-high blades of grass scrape at your side.

The director is Werner Herzog, who's tracing over the same material as his 1997 documentary "Little Dieter Needs to Fly," in which he went with Dengler back to the Vietnam jungle to recount the escape.

Herzog's familiarity with the material is an invaluable resource. His insight and vision lead to an experience that can't be matched by soundstages or computer graphics.

3.5 stars out of 4

Rated: PG-13 for some sequences of intense war violence and torture.

Writer-director: Werner Herzog

Family call: Too intense for young kids.

Running time: 120 minutes.

(Contact reporter Phil Villarreal at pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com.)