A U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.A U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.A U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.
- Awards
- 1 win & 6 nominations
James Aaron Oliver
- Jet Pilot
- (as James Oliver)
François Chau
- Province Governor
- (as Francois Chau)
Teerawat Mulvilai
- Little Hitler
- (as Teerawat 'Ka-Ge' Mulvilai)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was shot in reverse continuity so Christian Bale, having worked hard to lose weight for the role, would appear the gauntest at the end, and then could simply gain the pounds back over the course of filming, working backwards through time so that when Bale returned to his average weight he would be filming his scenes as Dengler prior to being taken prisoner.
- GoofsDuring his captivity, Dieter is shown wearing his gold wedding band - it is generally regard as something no American pilot would do. However, on the DVD Walter Herzog explains a deleted scene where Dieter's ring is almost stolen. When the guards are transporting Dengler to prison they stop at a village. A man there threatens to kill Dieter unless he gives him his ring-a gift from his fiancée. When they leave the village Dieter tells the guards his ring was stolen and they return to the village. The guards cut off the villager's ring finger and return Dieter's ring to him. This is a factual event that haunted Dengler the rest of his life.
Featured review
In 1965, while bombing Laos in a classified mission, the plane of the German-American pilot Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) is hit and crashes in the jungle. Dieter is arrested by the peasants, tortured and sent to a prisoner camp, where he meets five other mentally ill prisoners. He becomes close to Duane (Steve Zahn) and organizes an escape plan; however, the unstable Gene (Jeremy Davies) opposes to Dieter's plan. When they discover that there is no more food due to the constant American bombings in the area and their guards intend to kill them, Dieter sets his plan in motion. However, an unexpected betrayal split the group and Dieter and Duane find that the jungle is their actual prison.
"Rescue Dawn" is a good drama of war, with great performances of Christian Bale and Steve Zahn. Jeremy Davies has his customary role of an insecure and unstable guy. The story shows the spirit of a soldier and his struggle for surviving in a totally hostile environment. The poor and suffered peasants that had their lands, homes and families bombed are naive and do not have military training; therefore the storyline of Dieter's amazing escape is credible. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "O Sobrevivente" ("The Survivor")
"Rescue Dawn" is a good drama of war, with great performances of Christian Bale and Steve Zahn. Jeremy Davies has his customary role of an insecure and unstable guy. The story shows the spirit of a soldier and his struggle for surviving in a totally hostile environment. The poor and suffered peasants that had their lands, homes and families bombed are naive and do not have military training; therefore the storyline of Dieter's amazing escape is credible. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "O Sobrevivente" ("The Survivor")
- claudio_carvalho
- Jul 25, 2008
- Permalink
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $10,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $5,490,423
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $110,326
- Jul 8, 2007
- Gross worldwide
- $7,177,143
- Runtime2 hours 5 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content