Rescue Dawn (2006)

Short: Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) is shot down over Laos during his first mission in the early days of the Vietnam War. Taken into a POW camp, he meets Gene (Jeremy Davies), Duane (Steve Zahn), Phisit (Abhijati Jusakul), and Procet (Lek Chaiyan Chunsuttiwat). Insistent that they find out a way out, Dieter leads the prisoners in an ill-fated escape.

I was about to say something like, "It's all true, too," but I remembered that Slate article and hesitated. Instead I'll say that it's based on a true story.

While Bale's accent's a bit spotty (it really only sounded like a light German accent in one line near the end), every other element of his performance is spot on. Bale gives Dieter just enough charisma so that his overwhelming need to survive easily infects the rest of the prisoners who had obviously given up long before he arrived.

The finest point of their defeatism is drawn between Gene, who has convinced himself that they will be released, and Duane (an emaciated Zahn, face hidden under a shaggy beard and long hair), who has withdrawn from the rest of the prisoners. Duane finds his lost hope in Dieter, and Zahn heartbreakingly allows a light to slowly creep back into Duane's eyes only to have it snuffed out by the harsh conditions of the merciless jungle during the rainy season.

It is to writer-director Werner Herzog's credit that his decision to stay away from the prisoners' inner lives seems like both a blessing and a curse. A lesser film would have had an early scene between Dieter and his briefly mentioned fiancé or had him carry around a photo of her in order to provide suitable motivation enabling the audience to understand his astonishing desire to escape in the face of so many obstacles. Even so, Herzog goes too far in the other direction: he includes the story as to why little Dieter needed to fly in the first place, but he gives us no real indication of what keeps Dieter or the rest of the men going. He doesn't even tell us if Dieter's fiancé remained true in the closing credits. Instead, Herzog dedicates those moments to Dieter's career in aviation.

When Herzog listened but decided not to include the audio tape of the deaths of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard in Grizzly Man, it made him seem thoughtful and compassionate. I believe it is the same qualities that lead Herzog to pull away in this picture when another director would push in for the all-too-important close-up. Unfortunately, this decision also keeps the audience at arm's length.

The film is compelling and the performances gripping, but there's always something in the way to prevent the viewer from truly becoming involved with these men. Hey, at least we got another great score from Klaus Badelt. B+