Before the United States entered the Vietnam conflict, secret bombings inside Laos took place. On one such trip, Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) was shot down and subsequently captured. He is tortured during a horrible imprisonment in a shoddy camp but also makes friends, like Dwayne (Steve Zahn). Soon, however, Dengler escapes and then is finally rescued.

CRITIQUE

The viewing of Rescue Dawn brought to my mind a couple of other films. First, in 1973, Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman starred in Papillion. Second, as a boy, the star of this film, Christian Bale, also starred in Empire of the Sun for Steven Spielberg in 1987. How they connect to this film will become clear. Harrowing and beautiful in many ways, Rescue Dawn an exceptional lead performance and superior direction.

Aside from the obvious parallel of having the same lead actor, Rescue Dawn and Empire of the Sun both detail an imprisonment. Papillion does as well, but the central point of interest about Empire is the fact that it was Bale’s first role and his talent proves as impressive now with Dawn as it did then, when he was 7 years old. To up the difficulty factor for this role, Bale is also playing an American, so we hear not a trace of his natural British accent. The supporting cast offers talent as well, with Steve Zahn, one of my favorite funny guys, being as dramatic as we’ve ever seen him and doing it extremely well. Jeremy Davies is also good and looks authentically emaciated (I hope he got something to eat when filming finished!)

The parallels to Papillion are even more pronounced, following nearly the same basic storyline. The lead characters have a lot of similarities, such as Dengler almost going out of his mind as Henri Charriere (played by Steve McQueen) did in Papillon’s story, and this inevitably ties in with the lead performance. Additionally, Dengler also develops a close friendship while in the camp that proves emotionally effective, especially in the memorably daring escape sequence and the scenes following it.

An established talent of world cinema, director Werner Herzog knows how to assemble top talent behind the scenes, with a delicate score by Klaus Badelt as just one example. The cinematography amazes too, with the camera movement and angles different while inside the camp than out. This is an excellent touch, and subtle as well. The landscape is gorgeous and taken full advantage of in the compositions. Outstanding direction takes the wrenching story and compelling performances of Rescue Dawn to their best level.

THE VIDEO

Rescue Dawn appears in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. Beautiful visuals of the Asian landscape, as well as great colors and picture, are featured. However, the studio only supplied a screener disc so the final product quality is probably higher, but I can’t comment on that.

THE AUDIO

Rescue Dawn is presented in an excellent English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track. Dialogue is clear, sound effects are loud, and the surrounds are active during certain times. There are also Dolby surround tracks for Spanish and French, as well as optional English and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Audio Commentary: Director Herzog and interviewer Norman Hill provide a track together. I like this format, one I haven’t seen before on a track. It begins excellently, with Herzog comparing the opening shot’s music-picture dichotomy to the ending of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, and continues to give interesting information. Herzog praises Bale and reveals that the Thailand stood in for Laos. Definitely watch the film once with the commentary.

The Making of a True Story: Four sections make up this documentary. It is a long and excellent mix of on-set footage and interviews. I love the input from the cinematographer and the actors tell good anecdotes from the set. Herzog likes to do what he asks his actors to do before they do, and Zahn tells a funny story about Herzog and a poisonous caterpillar. The best part may be the pictures we get of the real Dengler. This is the best extra on the disc.

Deleted Scenes: Three scenes are included here and they are good. They mostly omit the instances of any mention of Dengler’s fiancée. They also come with commentary from Herzog and Hill, and I like how Herzog explains the fact that he doesn’t usually include deleted scenes on his DVDs by saying, “a carpenter doesn’t sit on his shavings.”

Still Gallery: These are production stills, a vast majority of which feature Bale. You’ll likely scroll through these only once.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The lead performance is only the most conspicuously great part of the powerful, memorable Rescue Dawn. The direction is another aspect that makes it an exceptional war film. The extras on this disc are solid and truly interesting to watch. Almost all adults will want to at least rent this top-quality war film.