Review

After making the 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly—which recounted the life of German-American pilot Dieter Dengler shot down in 1966 on a secret bombing raid over Laos and held by the Viet Cong under near–Deer Hunter conditions—Werner Herzog decided to try it again with actors, among them Christian Bale. The film, Rescue Dawn, is so good it makes you wish that Herzog had gone Hollywood earlier in his career. His pet theme is here: man tested against nature, his sanity more precarious than his body. But you don’t get Herzog’s usual loitering camera or Teutonic musings. The movie is lean and wiry, the artistry camouflaged. Bale catches Dengler’s restlessness, his bravery as much the upshot of impatience as nobility of soul. The other Americans in the prison camp are played by Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies. As their fear and hunger grow, Zahn burrows down into himself, Davies sprouts dementia like werewolf hair. The primal dependence—and, at times, primal repulsion—of these men matches the mythic jungle landscape, with those almost laughably oversize leaves. Rescue Dawn is terrific by itself, but it’s enriched by its documentary counterpart. See them back-to-back with a bowl of rice in between.  — David Edelstein

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New York Magazine Reviews

• David Edelstein's Full Review (7/2/07)