Mike Huckabee probably thinks he can count on the support of a real badass Hollywood movie star to carry him all the way to the Republican presidential nomination. Well, Liberty Watch would like to ask the Huckster some questions first: Did Chuck Norris ever perform any of the following acts on film: Wrestle with and eat a live snake on film? Consume an entire bowl of live maggots? Get dragged by a water buffalo with Laotians kicking dirt in his face? Get tied upside down with an ant’s nest strapped to his face and with Laotians spinning him around like a crazed piñata? Drop half his body weight to more closely resemble an American prisoner of war rotting in a Vietcong camp? Make a movie in which he was forced to machete his way through the jungles of Thailand with director Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man) snapping on his heels?
Yeah, we didn’t think so. Those accomplishments rest squarely on the shoulders of acclaimed actor Christian Bale (American Psycho, Batman Begins), who may not have a black belt in karate and may never have duked it out mano a mano with the late and legendary Bruce Lee. In any case, Bale deserves some kind of thespian medal of honor for playing the role of real-life American POW Dieter Denzel (who died in 2001) to the hilt, making for one of the most incredible prison-break movies since Ray Liotta’s underrated turn in the 1994 sci-fi opus No Escape. Hell, Bale is so damn good in Rescue Dawn he makes Rambo look like Raggedy Ann.
This isn’t the first time Herzog has tried to tell Denzel’s story. The director’s first effort was the nifty 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly (which serves as the basis for Rescue Dawn). In the Rescue Dawn DVD’s fascinating bonus featurette, Herzog recalls that, upon viewing his doc, Denzel insisted there was still some “unfinished business.” The director took the observation to heart and long planned to make this adventure tale but could only secure funding after Denzel had passed away.
The film is a masterpiece of adventure cinema that belongs right on the shelf next to The Thin Red Line and Deliverance for its intellectual sharpness, absolutely breathtaking cinematography, and purity of design. The script, written by Herzog, is superb, but you can, if you pay close attention, discern the actors improvising at times. Clearly, Rescue Dawn is a collaborative effort in which every participant’s contribution is felt.
German-born Denzel, as a kid, sees an American fighter pilot strafe his house during WWII. From that moment on, he dreams of being a pilot. After immigrating to the United States, he joins the Navy just before the outbreak of the Vietnam War and is shot down over Laos and captured. He organizes a prison break with the help of his fellow captives, among them Duane Martin (Steve Zahn). Zahn, if you remember him from You Got Mail, will startle you in this dramatic role in which he blends vulnerability with elegant pathos. And Jeremy Davies as Gene DeBruin offers a performance that is harrowingly suspenseful in the way it creeps up on you, making you wonder if he’ll go along with the plan or out Denzel to the guards. All around, Rescue Dawn is beautifully acted.
And the jungle is its own character. Instead of relying on special effects, Herzog and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger dive headlong into the dense, green underbrush, making you feel every sharp thorn, every flash flood and every bloodsucking leech. Herzog has always provided visceral experiences (see Aguirre, The Wrath of God), but here he does for the Mekong River what director Wolfgang Petersen did for German U-boats in Das Boot.
More satisfying for Liberty Watch readers, Rescue Dawn is a story of self-reliance, optimism and individualism in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. In other words, this movie will not appeal to anyone looking for a cinematic antiwar or prowar screed to justify his or her point of view. When a Vietnamese official presents Denzel with a document that outlines America’s imperialistic aims, the POW refuses to sign. “My country gave me wings,” he says. And that’s the extent of any political discussion in this film, in which there are no good and bad guys — only people in conflict with each other in the infinite wilderness of Southeast Asia.
