Rescue Dawn

Starring Christian Bale, Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies
Directed by Werner Herzog
Running time: 126 mins
Release date: 22 November 2007

From legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog, comes the incredible true story of RESCUE DAWN, which is certain to join THE THIN RED LINE and FULL METAL JACKET as one of the best war movies of the modern era.

In 1997, Werner Herzog made the documentary LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY, which told the extraordinary story of a German-born American Navy pilot, Dieter Dengler, who crash-landed in Laos during the Vietnam War. He was imprisoned in a POW camp and brutally tortured. He then engineered an extraordinary escape with the other inmates, both American and Vietnamese.

Christian Bale plays Dengler in RESCUE DAWN. It is one of this accomplished actors most breathtaking performances. From all-American wisecracker to beaten-down victim, Bale inhabits his character with such a fierce and passionate intensity that one recalls the similarly riveting performances of Herzogs muse, Klaus Kinski. More to the point, the films survivalist snarl, its intense anti-heroism and Herzogs abiding love of freakish wise men echo the filmmakers earlier masterpieces, COBRA VERDE and FITZCARRALDO in particular.

Bale is matched step for step by a group of accomplished character actors, including the wonderful Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies as fellow POWs who help Dengler hatch his plans. The camerawork is characteristically stunning and the script is equally propulsive.

This incredible story of survival is played beautifully and resolutely by Bale, while Herzogs perspective gives the film sublimity that can only be achieved by a master director.

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