Two Plus Two Newer Archives

Rescue Dawn trailer/official page

Werner Herzog is back to making regular movie dramas! And a big one, too, starring Christian Bale. This movie looks like it could be very interesting. Herzog is a true artist, and I'm sure he'll get at least some of that through in a Hollywood movie.

The story is about the harrowing adventures of Dieter Dengler, an American immigrant from Germany who he had already profiled earlier in a documentary called "Little Dieter Needs to Fly." There is a nice write-up with some back story at the link above, as well as a link to Herzog's personal site. Anyway, Dengler was flying over the Laotian border during the Vietnam war and got shot down and captured. He was stuck in a POW camp, became a prisoner, tortured, etc. Luckily, he lived, and now we get to see his story.

The film opens in New York and L.A. on July 4th, and I hope it does well enough to get a wider opening thereafter. It sounds like the subject matter is inherently interesting, and we've got a good actor and a great director.

For people who don't recognize Herzog right off the bat, you might recall him as the director of the non-fiction Grizzly Man flick, about the guy who got close enough to bears to finally get eaten by one. He also did some famously nutty stuff like Fitzcaraldo, in which he was probably at least as nutty as his lead character, Werner Herzog Eats his Shoe, which was the result of a lost bet, Aguirre, Wrath of God(I like the German title better: Every Man for Himself and God Against All). You can find most of his stuff on Netflix.