Anybody seen the film RESCUE DAWN

KiljoyKutlery

KiljoyKutlery

KILJOY KutLery, hand made in Luling Texas
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I just finished watching rescue dawn with my family and thought it was a really cool movie...it didn't go into to much survival stuff, but it had 2 scenes with fire by friction using bamboo. I thought this was really cool, as I had never seen this method. Has anyone else used this method or seen it demonstrated? Overall, it was a great film and I always like stuff based on actual events. Gene
 
It was based upon a true story, but I don't know how much Hollywood screwed wit hthe original story.

However, myself, I would NOT have ditched the AK and the SKS, no matter how tired I was. At the very least they would have come in handy with the angry villagers.
 
I doubt I would have climbed onto that rock for a better view either. Certainly not stood there for a 'dramatic moment' !:D

Overall, I thought it was a good film with a refreshingly different focus from most in this genre. The fact that the director, Werner Herzog, knows the (heavily 'hollywoodized' ?) story really well is also a good thing. Christian Bale is great at his job as well.

On the bamboo fire saw...
Ray Mears Extreme Survival S1Ep1. He credits a US Army instructor with showing it to him.
 
get the PBS version, called Little Dieter needs to fly.

That will get you thinking far more about things than how to start a fire. Seriously one of the most moving documentaries you will see. And you will see how rescue dawn was a butchered up version of that.
 
I enjoyed the film and thought Bale did a great job playing the somewhat unusual Dangler character.

It is a pity however, that the film departed from the facts in places. I don't see why this is necessary. There is an interesting website about the alleged "real story". It differs mainly in relation to the portrayal of one of the other characters (Eugene). There are also other differences in relation to the attitudes of fellow prisoners to escape (they were supposedly way ahead of Dangler and had made previous attempts) and also the untold story of the escape of one of the other characters (a Thai prisoner).
 
I never read the books or had ever really heard of Dieter...so it was a cool movie for me. Tough to watch near the end, when they were trying to get rescued....Gene
 
I've had the Soldier of Fortune issue that featured two small articles about him since I was a kid. I've always wondered why his story didn't become a movie. I've also wondered why Nick Rowe's story (Five Years to Freedom) never made it to film.

Given the current controversies surrounding "Rescue Dawn," I guess it's easy to see why. When I saw a glimpse of the trailer for this movie early last summer, I figured it was about Dieter Dengler.

I had no idea that Herzog did a documentary on Dengler ten years ago, I'll have to pick that one up.

No matter the controversies surrounding this film, Dengler was a brave man and deserves the praise he has received. I hope the greatness of Dengler is not lost in the criticisms of Herzog.
 
Don Rearic said:
I've had the Soldier of Fortune issue that featured two small articles about him since I was a kid. I've always wondered why his story didn't become a movie. I've also wondered why Nick Rowe's story (Five Years to Freedom) never made it to film.

Given the current controversies surrounding "Rescue Dawn," I guess it's easy to see why. When I saw a glimpse of the trailer for this movie early last summer, I figured it was about Dieter Dengler.

I had no idea that Herzog did a documentary on Dengler ten years ago, I'll have to pick that one up.

No matter the controversies surrounding this film, Dengler was a brave man and deserves the praise he has received. I hope the greatness of Dengler is not lost in the criticisms of Herzog.
Click to expand...



AMEN BRO!!!
 
Little Dieter Needs To Fly for the documantary, Rescue Dawn for the dramatization.

Take Herzog for what you will. He jumps from fiction to documentary to mockumentary with ease. Several of his fictional films are loosely based on real life characters. He always struck me as a bit of a jokester, intentionally blurring the lines of reality and his real life with his movies and pure fiction.
 
Yeah, I think anyone familiar with the story is familiar with that website and just because they have a website doesn't mean they're right either. If you think they know everything that a man did in a jungle camp in Laos 40+ years ago just because they are related to him and on the strength of a Thai...well, good luck!

Had Dieter Dengler spent a much longer period of time in that camp, he might have deteriorated mentally as well.

It's clear that Herzog departed from the truth of the story, in the case of having six prisoners instead of seven, it was because of the dialogue involved. He wanted to simplify matters. Is that "bad?" I guess if you are the guy left out of the story it's pretty bad as they should all be remembered. I think he should have stayed with reality and told the story of the seven.

It was cited in a 1970s article that Dieter Dengler fired on his captors. Who killed who? I don't know, I was not there, you were not there and the other people involved with that website were not there, either.

I could go on, but this is what I am talking about. I'll be glad when the controversy blows over. Dengler is in Arlington, he's dead and he's a Hero and that's that. What a Film Director that befriended him did after he died is obviously out of his control.
 
I knew the brother of one of the Air America captives depicted in the film. He worked as a "rice kicker" over Laos and was shot down and captured. After the war they started looking for him and could never find a trace of him or his prision guards. They had not given up hope of finding him and were still looking for him into the early 90's. I have not seen his brother for a few years and by now the POW would be in his mid 60's. Not a very good chance for survival since the late 60's.
 
The lack of a good film about Nick Rowe is indeed a crime.
 
Robert,

That's true. Then on the other hand, how long would it have to be in order to do the story justice? I mean, you're talking a miniseries then and then it would really get butchered.
 
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