Rescue Dawn (2006)
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A downed Navy pilot must lead a desperate escape from a prisoner-of-war camp in the jungles of Laos.
The story
In February 1966, U.S. Navy pilot Lieutenant Dieter Dengler is shot down over Laos during a combat mission and captured by the Pathet Lao. After refusing to sign a document condemning America, he is tortured and imprisoned in a POW camp with several other captives. Suffering from malnutrition and abuse, Dengler begins to formulate a complex escape plan. When the prisoners learn that their guards intend to kill them due to a severe food shortage, they agree to put his long-prepared plan into action to flee into the jungle and contact American forces for rescue.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In February 1966, U.S. Navy pilot Lieutenant Dieter Dengler is shot down over Laos and captured by the Pathet Lao. After refusing to sign a document condemning America, he is tortured and imprisoned in a POW camp with other captives, including American pilots and a radio operator. Dengler formulates an escape plan involving a breach of the perimeter fence and a coordinated move to overwhelm the guards during lunch. The prisoners agree to the plan after learning the guards intend to kill them due to a drought-induced food shortage. The escape goes awry when one party disobeys orders, resulting in the deaths of several guards. The prisoners disperse into the jungle; Dengler and fellow POW Duane W. Martin attempt to cross the Mekong River on a crude raft but encounter rapids and a waterfall. Martin eventually succumbs to exhaustion and is decapitated by a mob of angry villagers. Dengler manages to signal an American helicopter and is rescued. He is initially kept isolated in a U.S. compound because his mission was classified, but eventually returns to his ship as a hero.
- First release year
- 2006
- Runtime (minutes)
- 125
- Production countries
- Luxembourg; United States
- Original languages
- English; Vietnamese
- Directors
- Werner Herzog
- Writers
- Werner Herzog · writer
- Cast and characters
- Christian Bale · Dieter Dengler; Steve Zahn; Jeremy Davies; Toby Huss
- Genres
- epic war drama; aviation; historical action; survival; docudrama
- Themes
- man versus nature; survival; bravery; sacrifice
- Tone and mood
- cold; unforgiving; chilling; austerity
- Premise and plot tags
- true story; prison escape; war drama; survival
- Source material / true-story basis
- True story of Dieter Dengler
- Content notes
- PG-13
- Reception
- The film received generally positive critical reviews and was considered a financial failure at the box office, though it was successful on DVD.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 90% · review count: 162; Metacritic · score: 77 · scale: 100 · review count: 36
- Awards and nominations
- San Diego Film Critics Society Award · body of work · 2007 · win
- Production trivia
- The crash scene was live action, while the flight scenes were created digitally.; The film depicts six prisoners, though there were seven in real life.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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