project film school

a trip to the theater! : rescue dawn (directed by werner herzog)

last night eric and i went to see a special screening of werner herzog's new film rescue dawn hosted by variety and the museum of the moving image. i went into the film knowing very little except that it dealt with the vietnam war era, is the narrative version of a documentary (little dieter needs to fly, also by herzog) and that it was supposed to be intense.

i have never seen little dieter needs to fly - a decision i made when i learned that herzog was embarking on a narrative version of the story. to me, seeing a narrative is almost always better with the least amount of knowledge of the story as is possible, trailers and reading ahead can often give away ending clues or provide the audience member with predisposition that ruins the magic of watching something as "blindly" as possible. and while my viewing of the documentary will no doubt be without the same tension - i think i will still be able to benefit from and enjoy seeing the non-fiction version of dieter's journey, albeit in a different way.

i enjoyed the film immensely. the performances and look of rescue dawn help to break the barrier between reality and fiction. herzog actually takes you places, instead of digitizing them for you and watching christian bale has proven to me once again that he is one of, if not the best actor working today. what struck me most about the film was that despite the time and location that we find ourselves in, rescue dawn is less a look at times of war or patriotism, but instead encapsulates the human spirit and the power we all possess when it comes down to the wire. it's a story of survival and of our ultimate desire to live.

here is a little video clip of steve zahn talking about supposed tensions on the set and working with werner

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