Rescue Dawn is based on the true story of Dieter Dengler, a German who moved to America in order to realise his dream of becoming a pilot. The quickest way he could do that was to sign up and become a fighter pilot. Set just before the Vietnam conflict, Dengler's first mission was to bomb part of the Ho Chi Minh trail. Forty minutes into that first flight, he was shot down, captured, and handed over to the Vietcong.
He's taken to a POW camp in the middle of the jungle and thrown in with six other captives, all of whom have been there for a long time (years, in some cases).
Dengler had a natural optimism and spirit that wouldn't be broken; before long he's planning his escape.
It's a good story, sympathetically told, well acted. Bale is very good as the ever-smiling Dengler; Zahn is brilliant as a fellow inmate who slowly loses his mind, his strength, and his will to live.
Enjoyable, even if it did feel quite slow in places.
My rating: 7.0 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.6 / 10
Running time: 126 mins
IMDB link
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