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Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this intense POW film isn't for younger viewers. The sometimes-bloody action (which is both heroic and not-so-heroic) is filtered through complicated historical and political contexts that aren't exactly kid friendly. Also, the prison camp abuse scenes are visceral and potentially upsetting, with violence that's both physical (beating, dragging, shooting, machete attacks) and psychological. Starving prisoners look extremely thin and weak; they also eat live maggots and a snake (these scenes are explicit). Characters smoke cigarettes, and there's some language, including "s--t."
Families can talk about the impact of the movie's violent torture scenes. Which abuses are worse -- the physical ones or the psychological ones? Why? What is the effect of showing the violence from the victims' point of view? What statement is the movie making about prisoner abuse -- no matter who the prisoners or the captors are? How are the captors in this movie characterized? Is what they're doing different from what characters like Jack Bauer do to suspected terrorists on shows like 24? How?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
At the start of the remarkable RESCUE DAWN (which is based on a true story), Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) is a gung-ho German-American U.S. Navy pilot, cocksure and dogged, willing to take all manner of risks. When he's assigned to conduct secret bombing missions over Laos in 1965, he plans ahead, designing a secret pocket for his U.S. passport and learning how to live off the land.
This training comes in handy when his plane is shot down and he must survive in the jungle. (The U.S. never officially listed Dengler as MIA, as the bombing campaign was not an acknowledged mission.) But nothing can prepare him for his capture by Laotian guerrillas: They tie to him to stakes, drag him from a Jeep, beat him, and shoot at him. Though he's at first appalled by his mistreatment ("Why doesn't anybody listen around here?"), he maintains faith in America, his adopted country. Remembering his difficult childhood in Germany's Black Forest region, he says, "I only wanted to fly ... I love America, America gave me wings."
Eventually deposited at a prison camp, Dieter meets the men with whom he will spend the long months to come, including Duane (Steve Zahn) and Gene (Jeremy Davies), as well as local "offender" Phisit (Abhijati Jusakul). They tell him about their captors -- including the brutal Little Hitler (Teerawat Mulvilai) -- and encourage him to keep a low profile, as they do.
When Dieter insists that he'll escape, the others, scrawny and weak from years of captivity, scoff, pointing to their severe surroundings, which are full of bugs, snakes, angry civilians, enemy fighters, and non-potable water. "The jungle is the prison," hisses Duane. "Don't you get it?" But stubborn Dieter refuses to give in, even as his escape scheme also stirs up distrust and disharmony among his fellows. He must learn to be more generous -- and even forgiving -- in order to survive.
By turns exciting and disturbing, Rescue Dawn showcases writer-director Werner Herzog's signature interests in moral ambiguities and emotional adversities. While the wide shots of the jungle can be breathtaking, close-up scenes of abused bodies and maggots (which serve as lunch for the starving prisoners) are disconcerting. And even though the guards appear monstrous to the prisoners (with no subtitles, their dialogue remains unknown for English-only speakers), the United States' activities during the Vietnam War raise questions.
That said, the movie's individual portraits -- especially the intimate, uneven, and wonderfully strange relationship that gradually develops between Dieter and Duane -- are poignant and engrossing. While its subject matter (prisoners of war) is surely timely, its complications are timeless.
Viewers interested in the subject of POWs might be interested in the Vietnam-era films The Hanoi Hilton and The Deer Hunter or the WWII classic The Great Escape. A more recent look at wartime imprisonment is offered in The Road to Guantanamo. And you might also enjoy the documentary that inspired Rescue Dawn -- Herzog's own Little Dieter Needs to Fly.
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Sexual ContentBrief suggestive talk ("nice ass for a sailor"). |
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ViolenceThe film opens with discussion of the Vietnam War's start. Early images include bombs dropping and exploding from pilots' perspective. Dieter's plane goes down, and he falls through trees, resulting in minor (but a bit bloody) injuries. In prison camp, abuse includes beating, kicking, tying up, dragging behind vehicles, hanging upside down (including a disturbing POV shot), tying a hornets' nest to a victim's neck, shooting near the head (ears ringing effect on soundtrack), chaining to planks, and starving (prisoners become alarmingly thin). Escape involves shooting, fighting, and knifing, resulting in bloody corpses. Brutal violence includes machete attack (bloody splatter on witness' face, decapitated body visible), and leads to an unnerving hallucination/ghost. |
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LanguageMilitary men's language includes repeated uses of "s--t," plus occasional uses of "goddamn" and "son of a bitch." |
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Social BehaviorPrisoners argue, then collaborate to escape; captors are brutal and cruel. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoFrequent cigarette smoking by pilots, prisoners, and guards. |
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