You’re one of the world’s most respected directors. You’ve got integrity, influence and enviable talent. So what do you do nearly a decade after making a well-received documentary about the travails of little known German-American flying ace Dieter Dengler? It’s probably safe to wager a sheepskin flying helmet and matching goggles that most filmmakers wouldn’t opt to direct a feature film about the very same travails of little known German-American flying ace Dieter Dengler.
Then again, Werner Herzog isn’t most filmmakers. Since emerging from a Bavarian backwater to make his first phone call at the age of 17, his directorial approach has been characterised by courage, invention and no little eccentricity.
In the wake of 2005’s Grizzly Man, Rescue Dawn sees Herzog getting back to nature in spectacular style. Long-time collaborator and cinematographer par excellence Peter Zeitlinger is bundled into low-flying choppers, fast-flowing waterfalls and leech-infested rivers, all in the name of depicting Dengler’s remarkable journey from stoic prisoner of war to poster boy of the US Air Force.
Unfortunately, as is so often the case with feature films ‘based on real events’, factual accuracy is a poor surrogate for taut dramatic structure. The fact that Dengler really did suffer months of repetitious and demeaning imprisonment at the hands of Laotian militia does not make it any more interesting to watch Christian Bale in the lead role treading the boards of a rickety bamboo hut for the umpteenth time. His recalcitrant co-prisoners are even less entertaining. Aside from Steve Zahn (who does a great line in wild-eyed insanity before he meets a local with a questionable attitude to machete safety), most of them seem content to go quietly bonkers in the comfort of a Southeast Asian cell. Perhaps they are finally driven out of their minds by Bale’s insistence on delivering all his dialogue sotto voce, despite the fact that none of the guards speaks a word of English.
As all Hollywood directors know, such low-level capering does not a blockbuster make, which probably explains why Rescue Dawn bears all the hallmarks of an action movie without providing a great deal of action. Even Bale’s spirited attempt to jimmy things along by gnawing on a live snake is futile in the face of pacing issues which ultimately make the film seem 30 minutes too long.
