During the Vietnam War, Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), a U.S. fighter pilot, is shot down over Laos and taken captive by enemy soldiers. Interned in a POW camp, Dengler and his fellow prisoners (Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies) endure torture, hunger and illness while they await their chance to escape.
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"Rescue Dawn" is yet more proof that no one wants to end up in a prisoner of war camp. But if you were, the movie's hero, Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) would be exactly what most of us would be looking for in a cellmate: enterprising, resilient and while heroic in that ultra cool Steve McQueen style, also sweet to the core and more than a little eccentric. Who wouldn't love a prisoner of war who is just crazy enough to shout, "We're going to get even," while staring down the barrel of his captor's rifle? I left "Rescue Dawn" feeling absolutely smitten, with the character of Dieter, with Bale -- a fiercely dedicated actor who has often left me cold in the past -- and with director Werner Herzog, for giving new life to the old genre of the escape picture.
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