Rescue Dawn (Werner Herzog's new film)

BryantStanton

BryantStanton

Well-known member
Saw this last night at a showing for one of my classes. Werner Herzog was even nice enough to come by and talk to the class for a little bit. The movie itself was pretty good in my opinion. It tells the story of Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), a navy pilot who is shot down and captured during the Vietnam war. Steve Zahn is also in it, as a POW named Duane. All I can say is I was amazed by Zahn. I never knew he could give a performance like that, I'm only used to his comedy persona. The film was beautifully shot, all handheld (NO steadycam according to Herzog). Hmmm... trying to think of what else to say. If anyone has some questions I can answer them, but I will say that I thought that it was pretty good, if not a tad cheesy in some parts. Strong performances throughout though.

EDIT:
Here's a link to the film's main webpage.
http://www.gibraltarfilms.com/projects/rescuedawn/
 
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I saw this last week and then watched Herzog's earlier documentary on Dengler, 'Little Dieter Needs to Fly'. What a great lesson in bringing a true story to the screen. What impressed me the most is how many dramatic elements in the true story Herzog didn't include in 'Rescue Dawn'. Do yourself a favor and watch these two films back to back.
 
I got to see it & really enjoyed it. I can't believe how much weight all those guys lost & kept off. Jeremy Davies was freakishly skinny.
 
rsbush said:
I saw this last week and then watched Herzog's earlier documentary on Dengler, 'Little Dieter Needs to Fly'. What a great lesson in bringing a true story to the screen. What impressed me the most is how many dramatic elements in the true story Herzog didn't include in 'Rescue Dawn'. Do yourself a favor and watch these two films back to back.
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I second that. When I was in San Diego last week for Comic-Con, I saw some movies at this little art house theater, who was showing Rescue Dawn and selling DVDs of Little Dieter Needs to Fly. I bought the DVD immediately after seeing Rescue Dawn. I think it's kind of interesting that Herzog told the same story twice in two different ways: narrative and documentary. I liked both a lot, although I think I like Little Dieter just a little bit more.
 
rsbush said:
I saw this last week and then watched Herzog's earlier documentary on Dengler, 'Little Dieter Needs to Fly'. What a great lesson in bringing a true story to the screen. What impressed me the most is how many dramatic elements in the true story Herzog didn't include in 'Rescue Dawn'. Do yourself a favor and watch these two films back to back.
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I have both on DVD and you're right, it is a good lesson in bringing a "true story" to the screen.
 
Knoxworth said:
I can't believe how much weight all those guys lost & kept off.
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Did you see Christian Bale in 'The Machinist'? Now that was freaky.

I like Rescue Dawn, it was 'different' and shot, I don't know, kind of old skool.

Steve Zahn is a legend and although he gets a lot of work, he's still undervalued.
 
Man that was confusing. I hadn't heard of this movie but the thread was discussing Herzon's "new film" yet everyone was saying "yup I saw it" or "have it on DVD"...I was like, "huh?"

Then I looked at when this thread was started.

I guess I will have to put this in my movie queue. Christian Bale is fast become the Man Among Men in Hollywood. He kinda reminds me of Ryan Gosling in a way or vice versa. Usually anything they are in I will see it.
 
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