About

The story of Dieter and Duane was always one I wanted to tell in a feature film, a tale of friendship and survival. Although 'Rescue Dawn' came second, in spirit it really was the first film. 'Little Dieter' was strongly influenced by a feature film that hadn't been made yet.

Rescue Dawn will screen from an archival 35mm film print.

Herzog returned to the story of Dieter Dengler, who had been the subject of his documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly 1997, with Rescue Dawn. The feature film is a powerful recreation of Dengler's experiences during the Vietnam War, where he was shot down over Laos and imprisoned in a jungle prison camp.

Christian Bale gives a commanding performance as Dengler, with Bale's extreme real-life weight loss for the role lending an air of pain and desperation to Dengler's struggles within the camp. Herzog takes plenty of liberties with the real story behind the film, but Rescue Dawn manages to put on screen many of the seemingly unimaginable scenarios Dengler describes in Little Dieter Needs to Fly. The two pieces of cinema play off each other wonderfully, together offering a fuller portrait of a man and the incredible experiences through which he lived.

MA15+