RESCUE DAWN

Rescue Dawn – or rather writing it’s review – is one of those jobs I keep meaning to get round to and failing miserably. So now I’m in the mood for a bit of writing and have the time, I’m just riding the wave ;) This can be qualified as one of the most extraordinary true stories I have ever heard. Master director Werner Herzog and talented actor Christian Bale tell the unbelievable story of Dieter Dengler, one of only two survivors who escaped from the Pathet Lao prison camp in Laos, during the Vietnam war.
On Febuary the 1.st 1966, Lt. Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale in the film) was shot down over Laos. His fate is similar to that of all prisoners of war at the time; he is arrested by peasants and taken to the Pathet Lao prison camp. There, he meets seven other prisoners of war, Americans and Thai civilians (who worked as “kickers” with the army – a kicker, by the way, is a person whose job at that time was to kick pallets of rice and food down the plane to aid refugees in the Peace Corps thank you Wikipedia for enlightening me on that one!). Anyway, so, there thy are, in the prison camp, but Dengler is determined not to stay there – so the group rallies and an escape plan is soon made. The plan is executed with heroism but they are very far from being “out of the woods”… Because their actual prison is the jungle itself and getting out of it is going to take even more determination than the getting out of the prison…
Now, I want to add a disclaimer here. Researching this film, I have found numerous claims the film is quite inaccurate on a lot of counts – especially the way one of the POWs, Eugene DeBruin is portrayed. Here, you can find a critique by the families of the other prisoners of war on the matter, but although the link comes first, I would save it for later and click here to read more about Dieter Dengler, and don't forget to scroll down and check his fellow inmates if you have the time – or maybe you would like to try here to read an excerpt of his book “Escape from Laos”. And I would watch the film, it is a VERY exciting Hollywood film. (Possibly “Hollywood Film” is the key word here – you cannot help but notice certain "Hollywoodisms" in it.)Just bare in mind it is “based on” true events as opposed to a “true story”. A good work of fiction and not an actual, factual account. Besides, it pushed me to do quite a lot of research on the matter and has brought to light, for me personally anyway, an incredible story of determination and survival, not just on the part of Dieter Dengler but for all the men – even those who struggled heroically but didn’t make it home… It’s also a stunning reminder of the horrors of war and the man’s capacity for cruelty to his fellow man. A topic I seem to be repeating myself on but then again… It’s one of those things you can’t really repeat enough…