Bobby's recent review reminded me I never did a write-up for
Rescue Dawn, which I saw in late November of 2006. One of the producers lives here in Portland and screened the film in town as a benefit. There were probably only forty or fifty people there that night and I don't even remember what the cause was where the funds were going, all I cared about was getting a sneak peek at one of my favorite filmmaker's flicks. I think I probably didn't rush back and write up a review because I was so disappointed. ANYway, the much belated review...
Rescue Dawn
Being a huge fan of Herzog's documentary
Little Dieter Needs to Fly, I was very excited to hear he was turning the material into a dramatic narrative and that it would star the great Christian Bale. Having seen the documentary many times, I was very familiar with the story, and knowing some of the out and out horrors Dieter so calmly described my head was swimming with the kind of pain and degradation that would be fictionally brought to life, and actually feared a little for what Bale, who had gone to extremes before in roles (most obviously the dangerous weight loss for
The Machinist), might truly hurt himself. How disappointed I was when Dieter's horrible/amazing story as retold in
Rescue Dawn felt neutered and strangely antiseptic. I realize part of that is that
Little Dieter Needs to Fly is so very, very effective and paints some images in the mind's eye that could probably never be replicated in a fictional film, even by artists so willing to go to extremes like Herzog and Bale. But despite the documentary being only eighty minutes long and
Dawn coming in at a little over two hours, the latter feels rushed in some spots and excises things for the sake of a linear narrative that simply don't make sense to me. Christian Bale is very good as Dengler, as I expected, and Steve Zahn shows just how good and complete an actor he is. Though for me it was Jeremy Davies who stole the film, as one of the other P.O.W.s, and it is him and not Bale who does the really, really scary-looking weight loss. But despite their grand efforts and that they're telling such an amazing story that seems almost too extreme to be true, Herzog never pulls it all together.
I also had some serious problems with the final scene on the aircraft carrier, a bit that was so off in tone from both the rest of
Rescue Dawn and
Little Dieter that my mouth fell open wondering why such a corny, hollow, clichéd CODA was somehow made by a director I find so unerring, much less as the final sentiment to end on! It's so odd that it almost feels like parody, something from one of the
Hot Shots! movies, but played straight and, I assume, supposed to make one cheer. To say it didn't work for me is an understatement. I'd love to hear Herzog's thoughts about it, because to me it's easily the worst five minutes of film he's ever shot and seems totally fake and forced and out of step with everything he's ever done in cinema.
But despite the trite ending,
Rescue Dawn is not a bad film, not at all. And if you've never seen a Werner Herzog film before it may even seem great. But it's simply not up to his own very high standards. It's plainly not in the same class as
Aguirre or
Stroszek, and it's definitely not anywhere near as powerful or mesmerizing as
Little Dieter Needs to Fly.
GRADE: B-