Rescue Dawn

A fantastic POW movie that certainly takes its toll.

The directing (by Werner Herzog no less) is fantastic. The brilliance is in its simplicity. The style is very raw and feels very real (with absolutely no glamour given to any on-screen character) and yet there is something very beautiful about it. The pacing is uneven which may cause some people to consider the movie a little slow at times but it is intentional and does add a lot to the experience.

It's difficult to choose a best performance (which is quite incredible with a lead like Christian Bale) but I must say if I have to choose one it would have to be Jeremy Davies' Eugene. That's not to take away from any one else's performance (including all the Vietnamese actors, Jumbo anyone?). Christian Bale gives another amazing performance and even an unrecognizable Steve Zahn is top notch and just gets better as the movie progresses.

The movie is very dark and very light in perfect balance and at the same time. This back and forth makes the movie very heavy to watch and you'll find yourself exhausted at the end of it. All this with very few disgusting visuals.

Finally the soundtrack is fantastic. The movie is very sparse with its use of score relying heavily on an amazing ambient and SFX track for much of the movie, which makes the music stand out when it does appear but the little music that does appear is amazing and perfectly complements (or contrasts) the movie at any given time.

All in all a great, simple and heavy POW movie that some may consider slow at points.

Score: 4 shoe soles (out of 5)

A Vietnamese Verbal Volley:

"You're a strange bird, Dieter. A man tries to kill you and you want his job."

Christian Bale, Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies lost weight. Werner Herzog told them to and lost weight in solidarity. Klaus Badelt played music when it was needed.