Earlier in the year I broke the movie down in my Leshock Value segment. Here’s a recap in case you missed it:

Dieter Dengler was a German-American who loved to fly. Werner Herzog made a documentary about Dengler’s life, titled “Little Dieter Needs to Fly.” Dieter probably didn’t understand too much about why the American military found themselves involved in the Vietnam War, but his job was to fight. His job was to fly. That’s what Dieter did.

So when Dieter found himself in trouble, shot down in the barren fields of a foreign land, he did what was necessary to survive. Sort of “Bear Grylls” meets “Apocalypse Now.”

“Rescue Dawn” is Herzog’s follow up to his earlier doc, a big-budget Hollywood take on the story. Christian Bale plays Dieter to tremendous effect. Sure, the accent might not be all there, but there’s just something about Bale’s casual demeanor that made me fall in love with this character. Here’s a regular German guy with such a relaxed American optimism. Even when he comes face to face with the pale skin and sunken eyes in a Vietnamese prison camp, Dieter never loses hope that he’ll make it out alive.

Speaking of the prison camp, this is where we find the film’s finest hours. Steve Zahn gives the performance of his life – one of the best supporting performances of the year. He plays a man who been trapped in the camp for years. With Dieter’s arrival comes a new hope that they can escape, and eventually find rescue. When the plan is concocted and put into motion, what follows are a few horrible moments - as devastating as movies can be.

But that was the Vietnam war. Days and days and days of devastation, with no real end in sight. It’s fitting that Herzog ends “Rescue Dawn” with a celebration, but there’s such a weird tone to it. It feels much more like a memorial of sorts, maybe even a funeral.

This is an exciting, deep-hearted war film. There is no preaching or ideology, just a story about a guy who wanted to fly, found himself in capture, and tried to escape. Christian Bale also chows down on a huge bowl of mealworms. Yes, they were real, and actor Steve Zahn told me in an interview that Christian “wouldn’t stop eating them between takes.” Method acting at its finest.

The DVD for Rescue Dawn features a 45-minute doc about the making of the movie, mainly how Herzog remained faithful to Dieter’s own accounts (Dieter’s son Alexander is featured in the segment). Besides that you have Herzog giving commentary on the entire film, as well as the few deleted scenes the disc features.

“Rescue Dawn” gets a 9 dollar rating out of 10 on the Leshock Value scale.

9/10