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07. 3.07
"Rescue Dawn."
We saw "Rescue Dawn" exactly six months ago (before MGM affixed it with its current winking — or just hopeless — Independence Day theatrical release date) and it's too hazy in our mind now to give it any kind of thorough review. Still, we wanted to take a moment to salute Werner Herzog's supposed venture into the mainstream, which is as quietly weird and as unapologetically Herzogian as anything the director has turned out before. Many of the film's details are recreated with remarkable precision from the stories recounted by Dieter Dengler in "Little Dieter Needs to Fly," but while in the doc you sense Herzog's will shaping his subject into the one he wanted, in "Rescue Dawn" everything is his to define from the start, and the film ultimately takes on the strange dreamlike beauty of the shots of bombs exploding in luxurious slow motion across the Southeast Asian countryside, an image shared by both films. Dengler's irrepressible optimism, as embodied by Christian Bale, seems initially to be almost a put-on, though as it bears up, unfaltering, through torture, imprisonment and starvation, you start to realize, as do his fellow prisoners of war, that there's an admirable edge of madness to it. If this is indeed Herzog's jingoistic moment, as some have chided, then we'd hate to see what his idea of criticism would look like. Dengler, Herzog's own version of an all-American (German-born) hero, can't possible compete at the box office with the likes of "Live Free or Die Hard," but John McClane wishes he could get an ending as great as the one in "Rescue Dawn," the best all-my-friends-are-here scene since "Inland Empire."
"Rescue Dawn" open in New York and L.A. on July 4th.
+ "Rescue Dawn" (MGM)
Comments
more transgressive cinema! i.e. shoe eating, time-lapsed decomposure, EXTREME CLOSE-UPS!
Posted by: warner brozog | Jul 5, 2007 2:40:37 PM
should have had a military advisor while making the film. though not too bad of a film it has a lot of things in it that drives people with military knowledge crazy. the a-1 skyraiders looked pretty cool but the pilots had the wrong helmets on. They were green helicopter pilot helmets and should have been white football looking helmets. After the plane went down it was another type of aircraft, I believe a t-6 texan. Also, an a-1 skyraider was very hard to shoot down and would have had to take a lot more punishiment than that to bring it down. Where were the other three skyraiders after he was shot down? They would never have left the area after a fellow pilot was downed. They would have looked for him and attacked enemy troops closing in on their buddy.They would have also called in rescue choppers imedietly after he went down. Why did he hide his pistol and rescue radio? when escaping he and his buddy through away their rifles, this is nonsence, they would never do that. They could have also used the rifles to signal friendly forces ,not to mention defend themselves. Why did the door gunner on the rescue helicopter only open up for a few seconds ? He could see there were about three dozen enemy troops at the tree line. Why did the enemy troops fail to shoot at the helicopters? Why did the helicopter not land or hover near the ground since there was plenty of area to do so? The rescue wench is only fo rescues in areas where the choppers cannot land or hover near the ground. The chopper crew could have gotten him out of there faster if they had landed. Also, camouflaugrd hueys in 1966? The film should have had more action in the beginning of the film for more excitement and to please aviation nuts like myselfe. For those of you who are interested the a-1 skyraider was one hell of an aircraft which just missed ww2 but served in the korean war with the navy and of course in vietnam with the navy and air force on close air support missions and most notibly as the war progressed as escorts for resue helicopters picking up downed pilots and air crews al over S.E. asia. It also flew with the south vietnamese air force and many forean air forces. The A-1 also shot down at least two enemy mig 17 jet fighters of the North Vietnamese air force. One more thing, the poster for the movie shos two helicopters hovering over the downed pilot. One was a huey which is correct. However, the other chopper is UH-60 Blackhawk which did not even exsist at that time, not even on the drawing board. I am glad this film was made as it is an important film. I am only pointing out what a hell of a lot of military and aviation interested people I sure have noticed. Three cheers for everyone who made this patriotic film possible. You may just want to hire someone who can advies you on military matters with your next film which I wish you good luck on, a lot of talented work went into this film. Just a reminder, the United States did not lose the Vietnam war. American troops were gone by early 1973, South Vietnam fel to the communist North Vietnam in 1975,two years after we left. The U.S. military was asigned to keep South Vietnam from falling to the communists, which they did very well until they were told to go home by our government officials. We won all of the major battles but were not permiitted to win. The 1968 TET offensive was a major American victory which desimated the enemy. Thank you for yor time in this matter. Sincerely, Thomas R.J., an American veteran.
Posted by: tom jantz | Aug 9, 2007 11:14:46 PM
tom jantz needs a fucking life ... this movie blowed my boys then mike jackson and the catholic church priests combined... suck my balls
Posted by: adam the shit slover | Dec 2, 2007 4:22:01 AM
