Christian Bale plays Dieter Dengler, the German immigrant turned pilot who is shot down in 1966 over Laos. Bale may not have the onscreen presence of Kinski, but his more subtle decent into mental crisis is no less harrowing. The film begins aboard an aircraft carrier with the pilots being informed of their top secret mission to hit targets in Laos. This scene with the guys in their flight suits listening to their commanding officer certainly brought Top Gun to mind. But this association serves as misdirection as any rah-rah go-America jingoism dissipates. It isn't long before the first sortie is airborne and Dengler finds himself shot down just as quickly. The shot of Dengler scrambling into the woods as he is pursued is a wonderful long shot of the downed plane burning in a beautiful field of tall grass and dwarfed by the mountains. You begin to feel things shifting as nature closes in when you see Dengler's tiny figure being swallowed by the grass. In another scene, he stands on a high rocky protuberance hoping to catch sight of a rescue plane. This picture of a solitary figure set against a vast natural backdrop is pure Herzog.
He is captured and eventually brought before the provincial governor (played by François Chau who LOST fans will recognize as the star of the DHARMA orientation films) who asks him to sign a confessional statement renouncing his and the U.S. government's actions. He refuses citing his love of country – "I love America because America gave me wings." A P.O.W. camp becomes his home and there Dengler meets a helicopter pilot named Duane, played by Steve Zahn, and Gene from Eugene, a contractor masterfully portrayed by Jeremy Davies. Along with them are other non-Americans who, along with Gene and Duane, were part of Air America. After two years of internment, they have long hair, beards, and bicker amongst themselves like an old married couple. Scraggily yet loveable.
Their captors range from the brutal man nicknamed Little Hitler to another man who is a dwarf and given the playful moniker of Jumbo. Jumbo is fairly kind to the prisoners and unknowingly abets them in their bid to escape. Dengler is slowly revealed to be something less than the all-American persona we've witnessed thus far. His headstrong desire to escape and maintain a positive attitude at the prospects are at the fore but there are little things that clue you in to what's really happening inside his mind. Hints of mania alternate with a sense of earnestness that just isn't normal and this gentle unraveling is testament to Bale's acting ability.
Things really get moving when the prisoners escape with Dengler and Duane heading off by themselves into a classic Herzogland. The jungle is unremitting in its indifference to their plight. They peacefully float down a river and only escape being hurled over a waterfall at the last minute only to find their momentary relief tempered by the need to remove leeches from their skin. Our heroes find an abandoned village and take up residence. U.S. helicopters are heard in the distance but no amount of waving and screaming garners their attention so Dengler sets the village on fire. This gets the attention of those in the helicopters but, instead of rescue, they open fire on Dengler as he desperately flails his arms in the air. The defiant pair is now looking more ragged than ever and futility seems to have set in. One last bit of hope rises as they stumble upon a small village but are accosted by machete-wielding villagers. Dengler and Duane are on bended knees begging for help in what is probably the film's most intense scene.
Dengler, reduced to eating a snake raw, finally finds rescue. He is shuffled off to a military hospital where he recuperates. There's a little light humor here as he is kidnapped by his comrades and brought back to his carrier. The feel-good homecoming is perhaps a bit too Hollywood but Herzog pokes some holes in it. When asked, "Was it your faith in God and country that kept you going?", Dengler remains silent "You have to believe in something," intones his interlocutor. When he finally does manage a reply, it is "I believe I need a steak". His fellow crewmember won't let up and solicits advice to which he is given the cryptic "Empty that which is full. Fill that which is empty. If it itches, scratch it.".
While it is tempting to cast Rescue Dawn as Herzog-lite, the film is really the obsessive Werner Herzog we all know and love. There may be recognizable American faces and a "happy" ending, but every bit of "standard" storytelling is tempered by the director's obsession with turning madness into a virtue when a person is confronted by the cold disinterest of the universe. Rescue Dawn is bookended by scenes that veer a bit too close to cliché but at least you can see in them elements beneath the surface which belie the typical Hollywood spiel. The protagonist has been inalterably changed and not necessarily for the better. As for the meat of the movie, it is classic Herzog. Nature is cruel and uncaring and, when faced with this inexorable fact of life, Dengler can only retreat towards primal instinct while his humanity fades to madness. Jeremy Davies deserves great credit as Gene. Duane is able to muster the strength to carry on with Dengler's help. Gene, however, never really had any strength to begin with. When we first meet him, he's already lost it. It's like when we're introduced to Dennis Hopper's character in Apocalypse Now for the first time. Gene got pushed to the edge a long time ago and only a shell remains. In a way, the 3 lead characters all present gradations of the process of losing it with Dengler and Gene being at either side.
Peter Zeitlinger's cinematography captures the beauty of the locations to great effect while never letting us forget that it's the characters that are centerstage. It's the posture of their emaciated bodies set against a backdrop which is important along with capturing the looks in their eyes. I also greatly appreciated the judicious use of music in the film. The score by Klaus Badelt was notable for the times when it was absent, such as the chase scene immediately after Dengler's plane crashes, as well as the times when it's a slow burn that broods over the psyches of the characters. The band Popol Vuh has contributed to the soundtracks of many Herzog films and they are found here too.
Apocalypse Now also featured a decent into madness during the Vietnam War but Herzog's vision here is less grandiose and surreal and more intimate and realistic. Perhaps the Conquistador of the Useless has streamlined things and no longer feels the need to really haul a steamship across mountains for the camera. (And maybe the off-screen tensions have eased as well.) But Herzog still feels obliged to explore how people move steamships inside their heads and it is still compelling cinema.
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