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Since his beginnings as one of the key filmmakers of the New German Cinema of the 1970s, Werner Herzog has always stated that the key to understanding his fiction films is through an understanding of his documentaries. Throughout his career, the Munich-born director has continued to work simultaneously and dexterously in both idioms.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly is Herzog’s 1997 documentary on the extraordinary life of German-American Navy pilot Dieter Dengler, who was taken prisoner by the Pathet Lao after his plane was shot down in Laos during the Vietnam war. Rescue Dawn recreates his harrowing ordeal and his dramatic escape as, three decades on, Dengler revisits Laos.

Featuring a stunning, gruelling performance by Christian Bale as Dengler, this is Herzog’s translation of Dieter’s story into straight narrative and displays a plethora of familiar Herzogian themes (monomania, the jungle, hubris) as well as the influence of films such as Papillon (1973) or The Deer Hunter (1978). Astonishingly tense yet laced with irony, the film is storytelling of the most assuredly robust and muscular kind.

 

Pasquale Iannone on 4th March 2008
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