Rescue Dawn

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Rescue Dawn

Directed by	Werner Herzog
Produced by	Elton Brand Steve Marlton
Written by	Werner Herzog
Starring	Christian Bale Steve Zahn Jeremy Davies
Music by	Klaus Badelt
Cinematography	Peter Zeitlinger
Editing by	Joe Bini
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Running time	126 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$10,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Rescue Dawn is a 2007 movie starring Christian Bale and Steve Zahn. It is written and directed by Werner Herzog, based on the director's acclaimed 1997 documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly. NBA all-star Elton Brand is the film's producer through his production company Gibraltar Entertainment, which he co-owns with partner Steve Marlton. The film was produced in association with Thema Production. The project, which had been coming together in fits and starts during 2004, began shooting in Thailand in mid-August 2005. The film is based on the true story of German-born Dieter Dengler, who dreamed of being a pilot and eventually made his way to the United States, where he joined the Navy during the Vietnam War era. He became a pilot and was shot down over Laos and captured. Eventually he organized an escape with a small band of captives. The film was originally scheduled to be released by MGM in December 2006, but was held back for limited release in the United States at some point in 2007. The film had a nationwide release on July 27, 2007, after a limited release in NY/Toronto/LA on July 4. The movie was released on DVD in November 2007. The film is rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense war violence and torture.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Response
5 Historical Accuracy
6 References
7 External links

Plot

Dieter Dengler, a U.S. Navy pilot, is shot down over Laos at the beginning of the Vietnam War while on a top-secret mission. He survives the crash only to become pursued and ultimately captured by a local militia sympathetic to the Viet Cong. Dieter is given the chance for mercy if he signs a document condemning America, but he refuses. Instead, he is tortured and taken to a prison camp. There he meets fellow American military members and Air America pilots, some of whom have been captive for years. Dieter begins planning an escape, much to the disbelief of his fellow captives, who have been downtrodden through physical and psychological torture from the camp guards. Eventually, all the prisoners rise up and escape, but they take separate routes through the jungle. Dieter and fellow captive Duane try to reach the Mekong River to cross over into Thailand. The pair are attacked and Duane is beheaded. Eventually, Dieter is rescued by an American helicopter but sequestered in a hospital due to the top secret nature of his mission. He is covertly taken back to his ship by his shipmates, where he is received as a hero by the entire crew.

Cast

Christian Bale .... Dieter Dengler
Steve Zahn .... Duane Martin
Jeremy Davies .... Gene DeBruin
Marshall Bell .... Admiral Berrington
Brad Carr .... U.S. Navy Pilot
François Chau .... Province Governor
Craig Gellis .... Corporal
GQ .... Farkas
Zach Grenier .... Squad Leader
Pat Healy .... Norman
Toby Huss .... Spook
Bonnie Z. Hutchinson .... Nurse
Evan Jones .... Lessard
Abhijati 'Meuk' Jusakul .... Phisit
Tony B. King .... Jet Pilot
Richard Manning .... Helicopter Pilot
Garrett D. Melich .... Rigger Stone
Kriangsak Ming-olo .... Jumbo
Yuttana Muenwaja .... Crazy Horse
Teerawat Mulvilai .... Little Hitler
James Oliver .... Jet Pilot
Somkuan 'Kuan' Siroon .... Indian Man
Chorn Solyda .... Walkie Talkie
Saichia Wongwiroj .... Walt Disney Soldier of
Galen Yuen .... YCUW

Production

The film was shot in 44 days in Thailand. In preparation for the roles, the actors playing the prisoners spent several months losing weight. Since weight gain is accomplished more quickly than weight loss, the film was shot in reverse, with Bale fully regaining his weight during the course of the shoot.^[1] The film includes the first major occurrence in Herzog's career of digital visual effects. Because very few authentic A-1 Skyraiders remained flightworthy at the time of the production, the shots of Dieter's flight while airborne were created digitally. The crash itself, however, was produced practically. ^[2]

Response

Rescue Dawn has been positively received by critics. On metacritic.com the film has a score of 78 (generally favorable reviews) out of 100. It has received a strong 90% approval rating (115 out of 128 reviews positive) from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The film received a B+ from critics on Yahoo!. On its opening week Rescue Dawn grossed $1,304,464 opening at #19. It opened in only 57 theatres. The following week it grossed $1,650,282, higher than its first week takings. This was due to the fact the film now had opened in 500 theatres. It even rose to the 11th spot in the US box office. It has so far grossed $5,467,282 in the US.

Historical Accuracy

The film depicts 6 prisoners in the camp, while in real life there were 7. Herzog says that he found the scripting to be difficult with seven characters, and that six was a more manageable number.^[2] Jerry DeBruin, brother of Gene DeBruin (portrayed by Jeremy Davies) created a critical response website at www.rescuedawnthetruth.com to Werner Herzog and Rescue Dawn, claiming several characters and events are falsely portrayed in the film.^[3] On the same website, Pisidhi Indradat, the other survivor of the group, has also stated that the film contains inaccuracies. During his imprisonment, DeBruin taught his cellmates English, shared his food, and even returned after escaping to help an injured cell mate. In the movie, Dengler formulates the entire escape plan along with uncuffing the handcuffs with the nail. In real life, the plan had already been devised long before his arrival. The cellmates waited for 2 weeks before telling him of the plan.^[3] Herzog admits that DeBruin acted heroically during his imprisonment, refusing to leave while some sick prisoners remained, but Herzog was unaware of this fact until after the film had been completed. Herzog states that this narrative aspect probably would have been included had he learned it earlier.^[1] In real life, Dieter Dengler spoke English with a strong German accent. For this movie, Bale (who himself normally speaks English with a London or Cockney accent) altered his accent. .[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Herzog, Werner, The Making of a True Story, documentary feature on the American DVD release of Rescue Dawn
^ ^a ^b Herzog, Werner, audio commentary track on the American DVD release of Rescue Dawn
^ ^a ^b Rescue Dawn: The Truth. Family, Friends of Gene DeBruin Critical of Herzog Film.