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Dom Robinson reviews
- Cert:
- Cat.no: P923501000
- Running time: 120 minutes
- Year: 2006
- Pressing: 2008
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 20 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Audio commentary, The Making of a True Story, Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary, Stills Gallery,Theatrical Trailer, Other Releases
- Vote and comment on this film:
Director:
- Werner Herzog
(Encounters at the End of the World, Grizzly Man, Rescue Dawn, The White Diamond, The Wild Blue Yonder)
Producers:
- Elton Brand, Harry Knapp and Steve Marlton
Screenplay:
- Werner Herzog
Music:
- Klaus Badelt
Cast :
- Dieter Dengler: Christian Bale
Duane: Steve Zahn
Gene: Jeremy Davies
YC: Galen Yuen
Phisit: Abhijati ‘Muek’ Jusakul
Procet: Chaiyan ‘Lek’ Chunsuttiwat
Little Hitler: Teerawat ‘Ka-Ge’ Mulvilai
Crazy Horse: Yuttana Muenwaja
Jumbo: Kriangsak Ming-olo
Spook: Toby Huss
Norman: Pat Healy
Farkas: Gregory J. Qaiyum
Based on a true story, Rescue Dawntells of what happened to US Navy pilot Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), who was making classified bombing raids onLaos in 1965, which was a signal for the Vietnam war stepping up a gear into a long-running situation.
Amongst 3 other pilots, Dengler had to crash-land after his plane was shot in the air and once you’re in the dense jungle,how the hell are rescue choppers going to find you?
He refuses to sign a document that condems the US government – which it is claimed would effectively be his ticket out of thereas it would secure his release within the next couple of weeks, and as such his attempt at survival at the hands of hiscaptors is a tough one, starting with being tied to the floor outside while he’s left overnight to shit his pants (his words)to being dragged through the street, by the feet with those being bound and tied to the back of a boar, and also tonearly being drowned.
Following this, he is thrown into a POW camp alongside two Americans, Gene DeBruin (Jeremy Davies), Duane Martin(Steve Zahn), Chinese prisoner YC (Galen Yuen) and Thais Procet (Chaiyan ‘Lek’ Chunsuttiwat) andPhisit (Abhijati ‘Muek’ Jusakul), the latter two who are an amalgamation of three Thai men in reality, as can beseen from Dengler‘s Wikipedia profile, whichalso links through to those of Duane’s and one of the Thai men, but don’t read those out before seeing this film otherwiseyou’ll know precisely what happens as they dream of being free, which won’t be easy by a long stretch because even if theymake it out of the camp, there’s nothing but jungle outside and with the searing heat above them, they reckon they won’tlast any longer than two days without water and the monsoon season is a long time away and their relationship with the guardsis a far from harmonious one.
The film features mostly very hushed conversations (for reasons that will become obvious) which are impossible to hearall the time so it’s necessary to have the subtitles on – which I don’t mind, but there is a reason for them beingrequired.
Rescue Dawn is a great slow-burner, and as you see that the characters’ experiences are often as gross as hell,overall, it’s a fantastic piece of filmmaking and Christian Bale proves himself to be one of the finest actors of hisgeneration. The rest of the cast are similarly fantastic.
The 1.85:1 widescreen frame is used brilliantly throughout, conveying the starkness of the camp as well as the feeling ofbeing hemmed in, and also the lack of hope about their future prospects. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is mainly used forambience but now and again their perfectly-honed use of gunfire and aircraft sounds. It would be nice if the dialogue wasmore clear all the time, as this isn’t a film you can watch while you’re a bit tired *and* without the subtitles.
The extras are as follows:
- The Making of a True Story (53:58): I didn’t know until seeing that this the director had previously made a short film in 1997 entitled, Little Dieter Needs To Fly, and so it’s only natural that he would go on to make a long-form documentary about the film and the man.
With interviews from the cast, crew and Werner Herzog, a segment on the music in the film and other stories about the makingof the film, this near-hour-long piece is as fascinating as the film itself.
- Deleted Scenes (11:08): There are seven scenes here, presented in letterbox format, each with optional commentary from director Werner Herzogand interviewer Norman Hill.
Of these, I would’ve kept in scenes 2-4, but I can see why they would want to trim for reasons of timing as without them thefilm overall is not impinged. That said, I would put back scene 6 for definite, even if it is rather stomach-churning, butit marks a pivotal moment.
- Stills Gallery: Does exactly what it says on the tin with 153 of them. However, it would be preferable if the pics were in chronological order.
- Theatrical Trailer (2:06): Presented in letterbox 1.85:1.
- Other Releases (9:27): Trailers for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Be Kind Rewind, The Darjeeling Limited and Shine a Light whichis the Rolling Stones tour movie. All of these look well worth a watch, and I know the third one is already.Click here for the review of The Darjeeling Limited.
- Audio commentary: A feature-length track from Werner Herzog and Norman Hill.
The film contains 20 chapters, which isn’t too bad for a 2-hour film, subtitles are available in English for thehearing-impaired and the main menu is animated as well as being scored with a looped piece of music from the film. Each of thesub-menus also feature the same music which is a bit of overkill as I’d have left that in just for the main one, otherwiseyou come across it too much when flicking through the menus.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.