Crimson Dawn...

''No, I never wanted to go to war. I just wanted to fly.''

A US Fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.

Christian Bale: Dieter

Written and directed by Werner Herzog Rescue Dawn tells the inspired by true events story of Dieter Dengler, an American Pilot shot down while flying a secret operation over Laos. We see a charismatic Bale flesh out Deiter as he begins his venture, he's happy, bright and full of vibrant energy with his work mate pilots. We see them all watching a training video, with one of them, sarcastically jokes over it's contents, while the others revel and bask in the humour. We also see Dieter ask for some much needed essentials to be made use of in the field, in case of any ground work. We know this happy bubble he's in to begin with on the docking station ship isn't going to last, as we proceed to see Bale and company in their planes, bombing an enemy installation(More of a hut). The enemy fire back and Dieter's plane is taken out by the firing onslaught of Lao Soldiers. Despite him trying to escape on foot from these assailants in the jungle environment he is captured while drinking from an underground cavern river type place. At first these Lao Vietgong types don't seem so bad but it soon goes from bad to worse. Dieter is taken to a man who expects him to sign a letter condemning America's actions and the whole war.
Obviously Dieter refuses and then he's thrown into a hell of havoc. Dragged by a bull and hung up for hours, eventually he's taken to a P.O.W. camp, that turns out to be a living nightmare.

There he meets some unlikely friends and some dangerous new foes, most of them having been their for years, have clearly lost their minds.
Steve Zahn as Duane becomes Dieter's closest friend in this nightmare while the others all help too for some time.
Steve Zahn has produced the performance of his career in Rescue Dawn. A best supporting actor nod is most certainly in his future for the portrayal of a man broken only held from falling to pieces by his friends in captivity. He wears sullen eyes filled with an empty 1000 mile stare, his motions are like that of a dog beaten by his master for inhaling the same air he breathes. He is a trapped mouse in a room full of starving cats. Zahn is stunningly on form in this film.
Lack of food and torture is well shown in Rescue Dawn, while the conditions and feeding techniques are harshly depicted in vicious doses of equaled measure.

''I love America. America gave me wings.''

This is a film not just about survival of the body, but survival of the mind. When Dieter is brought to his prison with bamboo walls he meets his fellow cap-tees and it is obvious they have been there for some time. They thirst for news of the outside world like it was bread on the table for their empty stomachs. Gene(Jeremie Davies) and Duane introduce Dieter to his jailers and teach him what he needs to understand in order to live. These are two actors who have committed themselves with no reservation to their roles. Davies looks no more then 115lbs, he plays his character with a gaunt worn disposition that shows the only reason he has lived as long as he has is the false notion that release is eminent.

The film on a whole didn't really get to me until about 30 minutes into proceedings. It starts with footage of aerial bombings over the jungle with Klaus Badelt's(Pirates: Curse of the Black Pearl, Constantine) melancholy score bringing a rich sadness to the real life events depicted. Later, as hunger and desperation take hold of the prisoners, his music weaves in and the movements change to underline the dastardly situation that will put you on edge like a mosquito buzzing in your ear at night.

''When I was uhh... five or somethin', I was looking out the window, with my brother... and we see this fighter plane was coming right at us. I was not scared. I was mesmerized! Because for me, this pilot was this all-mighty being from the clouds. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to be him. I wanted to be one of them. I wanted to be a pilot.''

Christian Bale, a game and athletic actor who lost 63 pounds for the film The Machinist (but not a handful to deal with like the legendary Klaus Kinski) said something similar. In Rescue Dawn, Bale as Dieter appears to eat live worms at one point; struggles with a wildly writhing six-foot snake and strips it with his teeth. And the jungle locations in which this film were shot were no picnic. The landscape, as always in Herzog, is intense and omni-present.
The result is stripped down, authentic, and appallingly gritty but not as suspenseful as some other prisoner-of-war classics. A couple of the most shocking events go by so fast you hardly have time to absorb them. Christian Bale is fine in the lead, conveying his character's real life determination and upbeat spirit but also his wile. His raging grin is Dieter-esquire. However, he might have looked a bit more haggard toward the end given all his character's been through: look at a real photo of Dengler at that stage. But the jungle struggle is marvelously, spectacularly, repellently vivid. The emotional heart of the film is the relationship between Dieter and Duane.

Rescue Dawn equals a refreshingly truthful patriotic adventure in which Dengler himself espouses some of the most profound reasons why many Americans still love America for what it is. Dengler illustrates that, even when engaged in an unjust conflict, America IS its people and their spirit of liberty, not a government and not merely it's military muscle. Dengler is a true American hero not because he saves lives or fought expertly but because of his will to survive, to help those deserving of his help, and his desire to come home to the country he loved.

''Empty what is full. Fill what is empty. Scratch what itches.''

8/10