Rescue Dawn

I recently saw Werner Herzog’s newest film, RESCUE DAWN, in the unlikeliest of places: my local multiplex. While the theatre in question has been known to show some indie flair (usually around awards time), I never would have expected to see the newest film from the director of AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD stuck in between showings of BRATZ and DADDY DAY CAMP. I went in wondering how commercial the film must be to be getting this type of exposure during the summer; whether or not Herzog had produced a mainstream film or not. The good news is RESCUE DAWN is still entirely a Herzog picture. While more accessible than some of his other works, the film grapples with the power of nature over man, and the ferocity of the human spirit when it is determined to survive.

The film tells the true story of Deiter Dengler (Christian Bale), a German-born US pilot whose plane is shot down during a top-secret bombing in Laos during the mid sixties. After surviving the crash, Dengler is captured by Laotian soldiers and brought to a small camp in the middle of the jungle, where he meets other men captured, some of whom have been there for years. Through forced charm and sheer determination, Dengler recruits them all to plan an escape mission. Yet once the mission succeeds, he realizes that his prison was not kept within the gated confines of the camp; his prison is the endless jungle around him.

At the center of it all is Christian Bale’s mesmerizing, repeatedly astounding performance. In a role that seems tailor made for his matinee idol-type looks and deeply focused intensity, Bale commits himself completely. As the film goes on and Dengler’s strength and sanity are pushed to the brink, Bale visually decays before our eyes. From the frankly-shot torture sequences early in the film to the horrors of the jungle Bale faces on his own; his performance is a tour-de-force of a sustained human breakdown. By the film’s end, he has been stretched thin, stripped of all excess and he becomes a prime example of human survival at its fiercest. As his prison mate and fellow escapee, Steve Zahn is a revelation as well. His wild, ragged hair and wide, frightened eyes make him a man haunted. As his spirit begins to break, he becomes almost unrecognizable as the broken man clutching at Bale’s side, holding on to life. The only weak link in the cast is Jeremy Davies, who plays a slightly spacier version of his character in SOLARIS. The viewer grows tired of him even quicker than the characters do.

Despite the apparent commercial value of the film, it is still a Herzog picture. He balances his role as narrative filmmaker and documentary filmmaker, inserting several sequences of newsreel to great effect, especially in the opening scenes. Through the entire film, even the crash sequence, he never caves in to a traditional Hollywood style of filming. Whereas a studio film would stick in dramatic music and explosions, the actual crash is filmed naturally, followed immediately by a dead silence. When Dengler is thrust into the jungle, the film’s soundtrack becomes the sound of bugs jumping through the grass. There is no dialogue for long periods of time, with the characters moving silently through the ever-thickening and suffocating leaves and branches. The film becomes vibrantly alive as Dengler finds himself in the jungle. No extra ingredients are necessary; the mere image of these two men struggling against the terrifying power of nature drives the point home. Herzog unfortunately gives into Hollywood sentimentalism for the film’s finale, cheating the viewer out of what could have been a truly transcendental experience.

Still, RESCUE DAWN is a unique and special film, featuring two of the best performances this year. It’s unlikely I’ll ever find a Werner Herzog movie playing at a Regal Entertainment Group theatre, so I hope the people who wandered in expecting a typical blockbuster story of survival were surprised and affected. Herzog has once again shown us what a man will do when thrown into pure nature. He has crafted a film that, with a great deal of help from Bale, pushes us to the breaking point, hoping for salvation with every glimpse of the open sky.

***1/2