Netflix pick for 4/27/15 – ‘Rescue Dawn’

If you were to tell me that there is a movie in which prisoners of war are hemmed in and endangered not only by their physical prison and captors but more oppressively by their natural surroundings, miles and miles of untamed jungle and grabby vines and predators galore, I would tell you this movie would be perfect for Werner Herzog.

A dramatic telling of his own 1997 documentary “Little Dieter Needs to Fly,” the 2006 film “Rescue Dawn” is about German-American fighter pilot Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) and how he became a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict. He bonds with the other prisoners and he organizes an escape plan, despite the fact that the prison is as secure as it gets because of its location deep in the jungle. Bale’s performance as Dengler is pretty fantastic, as Dengler is a very compelling guy, an eternal optimist who befuddled his fellow POWs with his amazing attitude and will to live. One of Werner Herzog’s most commercially accessible films, this a great movie because it is an incredible story about a fascinating person and it is made with the consummate skill of a director who has been in the game for decades.

See for yourself by watching “Rescue Dawn” here on the Netflix Instant and enjoy!