Rescue Dawn 3/5 reviewed by Mike
It's refreshing to see a war film that isn't trying to cram propaganda down my throat. I'm getting rather tired of overly politicized movies, and I'm getting even more tired about reviewers who can only see politics in any movie they see. Thankfully, Rescue Dawn isn't trying to convince you that the Iraq war is a waste of time, or that Bush is evil, or whatever. It's simply an amazing story of courage and survival.
You may or may not be familiar with the story of Dieter Dengler, a pilot in the early part of the Vietnam war who was captured, tortured, lived in a prison camp, and then managed to escape. Director, Werner Herzog (the same guy who brought us "Grizzly Man") has told this story previously in a documentary on the subject, allowing Dengler to tell the story himself (Dengler also has a book recounting the tale). This dramatized version, starring Christian Bale and Steve Zahn, dramatizes the events of the capture and escape powerfully, even more so knowing that almost everything you see actually did happen.
Although Herzog already made a documentary about this story, Rescue Dawn seems to also function as a documentary on almost every level, which is good and bad at the same time. Very little time is spent setting up the characters and the situation. Just the basics are covered. The plane crash happens just a few minutes into the movie and immediately we're off and running. This creates a sense of detachment from the characters that I found hard to overcome. I never felt emotionally involved in the story. It definitely had that documentary feeling, like it was showing me the story, rather than getting me super involved in the story.
On the other hand, visually, this film puts you in the environment as good or better than any other movie I've seen. You can actually feel the mud stick to your legs, the dirt get in your hair, smell sweat and grime of the poverty-stricken villages... The film is shot in such a way that you so strongly feel like you are there, in the jungle, that it's hard to shake. But again, emotionally, I felt distant. I didn't really care for the characters, didn't feel like I got to know them or empathize with them. It was much more of that documentary feeling. Instead of the director saying, "here's this incredible man, feel for him and cry with him," it was more like the director was saying "Here is this story. Look at it. Look at the reality. This really happened. Look at it."
The performances are great. Steve Zahn surprised me with his performance as a prisoner who has just seen too much and can't take it anymore. Bale, as usual, delivers a perfect performance. The thing about Bale is that watching him is like watching a master musician who plays because he loves it, and for no other reason. The man is so thrilled by the art and craft of acting, he so completely takes on a role, that it's inspiring to watch. In this movie, he could have phoned in a Hollywood star style performance, and been all movie-star flashy, cool, funny, whatever. Instead, he comes across as a normal guy who's not especially noble or incredible, but just a guy, who's fairly arrogant, and somewhat selfish. He kept me distanced in that way, which, although kept me from being as emotionally involved as I could have been, definitely added to the realism of the piece. The writing helps, as well. There are no big hero lines, or cheesy close ups where he says some profound thought about the horrors of war. He's just a guy going through this crap. I also really enjoyed the music, which, at times was somewhat of a 20th Century classical kind of creepy, and at other times was what you'd expect from a patriotic war film, but incredibly scaled down, made more intimate, and quite touching without ever getting in the way.
This film sports some great craft, but done in a way to make me feel both distant emotionally and yet connected viscerally. This isn't a big patriotic, Go-America War piece, nor is it a Bush-bashing, war-sucks, down-with-America propaganda fest. It's simply the amazing and almost unbelievable experience of a small group of soldiers placed in horrible conditions, and how they dealt with it. Let it show you the horror of war, the triumph of the human spirit, or whatever else you want it to say. The interpretation is up to you.
See This Movie If:
-You're on the fence about documentary movies. This one isn't (there's definitely no narration or anything) but it rides the fence pretty well.
-You don't like war movies that bash you over the head with a political message.
-You appreciate good acting, or other craft aspects of filmmaking.
-You or someone close to you was in the war. This's some good perspective.
-(I wish I could give you some films to compare it to, but I really can't. This is a war film unlike any others. Suck all of the Hollywood out of your favorite war/prisoner escape film, and this is what you get.)
Don't See This Movie If:
-You need/expect nonstop action sequences
-You're on a first date
-You're so blinded by your extremist political affiliations that you can't see good cinema for what it is anymore without reading your own crap into it.
You may or may not be familiar with the story of Dieter Dengler, a pilot in the early part of the Vietnam war who was captured, tortured, lived in a prison camp, and then managed to escape. Director, Werner Herzog (the same guy who brought us "Grizzly Man") has told this story previously in a documentary on the subject, allowing Dengler to tell the story himself (Dengler also has a book recounting the tale). This dramatized version, starring Christian Bale and Steve Zahn, dramatizes the events of the capture and escape powerfully, even more so knowing that almost everything you see actually did happen.
Although Herzog already made a documentary about this story, Rescue Dawn seems to also function as a documentary on almost every level, which is good and bad at the same time. Very little time is spent setting up the characters and the situation. Just the basics are covered. The plane crash happens just a few minutes into the movie and immediately we're off and running. This creates a sense of detachment from the characters that I found hard to overcome. I never felt emotionally involved in the story. It definitely had that documentary feeling, like it was showing me the story, rather than getting me super involved in the story.
On the other hand, visually, this film puts you in the environment as good or better than any other movie I've seen. You can actually feel the mud stick to your legs, the dirt get in your hair, smell sweat and grime of the poverty-stricken villages... The film is shot in such a way that you so strongly feel like you are there, in the jungle, that it's hard to shake. But again, emotionally, I felt distant. I didn't really care for the characters, didn't feel like I got to know them or empathize with them. It was much more of that documentary feeling. Instead of the director saying, "here's this incredible man, feel for him and cry with him," it was more like the director was saying "Here is this story. Look at it. Look at the reality. This really happened. Look at it."
The performances are great. Steve Zahn surprised me with his performance as a prisoner who has just seen too much and can't take it anymore. Bale, as usual, delivers a perfect performance. The thing about Bale is that watching him is like watching a master musician who plays because he loves it, and for no other reason. The man is so thrilled by the art and craft of acting, he so completely takes on a role, that it's inspiring to watch. In this movie, he could have phoned in a Hollywood star style performance, and been all movie-star flashy, cool, funny, whatever. Instead, he comes across as a normal guy who's not especially noble or incredible, but just a guy, who's fairly arrogant, and somewhat selfish. He kept me distanced in that way, which, although kept me from being as emotionally involved as I could have been, definitely added to the realism of the piece. The writing helps, as well. There are no big hero lines, or cheesy close ups where he says some profound thought about the horrors of war. He's just a guy going through this crap. I also really enjoyed the music, which, at times was somewhat of a 20th Century classical kind of creepy, and at other times was what you'd expect from a patriotic war film, but incredibly scaled down, made more intimate, and quite touching without ever getting in the way.
This film sports some great craft, but done in a way to make me feel both distant emotionally and yet connected viscerally. This isn't a big patriotic, Go-America War piece, nor is it a Bush-bashing, war-sucks, down-with-America propaganda fest. It's simply the amazing and almost unbelievable experience of a small group of soldiers placed in horrible conditions, and how they dealt with it. Let it show you the horror of war, the triumph of the human spirit, or whatever else you want it to say. The interpretation is up to you.
See This Movie If:
-You're on the fence about documentary movies. This one isn't (there's definitely no narration or anything) but it rides the fence pretty well.
-You don't like war movies that bash you over the head with a political message.
-You appreciate good acting, or other craft aspects of filmmaking.
-You or someone close to you was in the war. This's some good perspective.
-(I wish I could give you some films to compare it to, but I really can't. This is a war film unlike any others. Suck all of the Hollywood out of your favorite war/prisoner escape film, and this is what you get.)
Don't See This Movie If:
-You need/expect nonstop action sequences
-You're on a first date
-You're so blinded by your extremist political affiliations that you can't see good cinema for what it is anymore without reading your own crap into it.
posted by Hankinstien at 11:54 PM
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