Rescue Dawn (Werner Herzog, 2006)

[tryavna]

Why do I feel like I'm looking at Fellini directing Jim Nabors?

Hey! Jim Nabors is way cool! (And so as not to be taken too seriously by anyone, that's a quote from The Simpsons.)

[gubbelsj]

So, any word on this film's release? I heard it was set to play at the Toronto Film Festival in the Master's (of cinema) category. I take it that's a somewhat heartening development?

[dadaistnun]

Trailer

Decidedly underwhelming, but (as with Haneke and his Funny Games remake) I'm certainly willing to give the director the benefit of the doubt.

[Nihonophile]

Herzog as much as I revere him, not just as a film maker but as a human being, he cannot outdo Little Dieter Needs To Fly. You can't capture a man reliving the most horrible ordeal of his life on camera expressing his moments of complete despair, i.e. the bear encounter, and out do that with an actor recreating this journey into a coherent narrative. That is my bias towards certain films, brilliant fakery won't affect me stronger than a highly unfiltered account. That said, I enter this film expecting Herzog to still impress me, watching the film as a comparison to the documentary will only serve to weaken my enjoyment of Rescue Dawn

[Antoine Doinel]

A much, much more Hollywood trailer here, complete with triumphant music by hipster faves M83.

[Jeff]

For what it's worth (not much, I know) Jeffrey Welles posted this depressing tidbit at Hollywood Elsewhere today:

It breaks my heart to pass this along, but a guy in the business who knows other people is telling me that Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn has been seen and that the word isn't very good. I'm mincing words -- he says it's pretty damn bad. Obviously this is just one observer writing what he's writing, but he claims he's expressing some kind of general consensus. I can only cling to a hope that this is cynical distributor talk and that the guy just isn't seeing it.

"I'm a huge Herzog fan, but this one is really terrible," he wrote earlier today. "People behind the scenes are just stunned. Companies are looking at it out of courtesy and respect for the man -- but this movie is a joke. There's nothing right about it -- everything from Christian Bale's performance to horrible editing, structure and pacing. There's no drama. The action scenes are ludicrous...flat. A few here tried to defend it while watching it, but no one could make it to the end without finally admitting it was a total trainwreck .

"I don't know if you've seen a copy yourself, but I've noticed heavy coverage on your site and wanted to give heads up. It's worse than straight-to-video. Now if they shot a behind-the-scenes documentary (as you know, the shoot was a fiscal and political catastrophe) well, they might have something to salvage.

"The film has been seen by others, and it sounds as if everyone feels the same. Rescue Dawn will be hard-pressed to find a large U.S. distributor. The cat will be out of the bag soon enough, even without the Toronto screenings. The post-production nightmare is even worse than reported. Herzog has yet to be paid, and there's all sorts of finger-pointing over unresolvable issues with the film."

[Antoine Doinel]

Risky Biz Blog:

Telluride Post-Date: Rescue Dawn

One invited film never made it to Telluride: Werner Herzog's recently completed feature Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale as Deiter Dengler, an American pilot whose story was told in Herzog's 1997 docu Little Dieter Needs to Fly. Herzog said he couldn't get the money to free the print from the lab. In Telluride, one distributor reported that he had screened and liked the movie, but the film was so tied up with multiple producers and accounting issues that it would be difficult to negotiate a sale. There is still a question as to whether Rescue Dawn will make its scheduled dates at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. Waiting for his bags at LAX, a zen-like Herzog said that he thought the print would come through in time.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Sounds like MGM isn't too worried -- they've bought all North American rights to the film.

[montgomery]

After Invicible (and the New Yorker article), is anyone really surprised?

[che-etienne]

.... just returned from the world premiere. And indeed 48 hours ago MGM bought all US distribution rights. They were even shameless enough to place their logo in front of the film within that time. But to the movie...

"Rescue Dawn" is a beautiful and yet frustrating film. Bale is a revelation, and Herzog has perhaps reached a turning point in his career. This is not another of this director's 'elegies' on the futile obsessions of man and the impenetrability and chaos of nature, but rather it is a reaffirmation of the human spirit, and more specifically of the American dream. Here hope has filled a frame that once saw only death at the end of the chaos of life and existence. Herzog has forged a story of survival that is less untamed and tormented than previous efforts, namely "Aguirre". Though the themes may remain consistent the grand judgement of the auteur is by the film's end an optimistic one. Thus, the stylistic philosophy has altered accordingly, and in scenes where Herzog might have once emphasized the languor of the moment - all shaky static shots - instead we often witness in fluid dolly shots. A prison camp is established with an almost too serene crane shot, and only in key passages do we switch to the improvisational more Herzogian hand-held camera. Perhaps this change is the result of the subject. This is a story about hope, and so it won't do to fall too far into the heart of darkness. Here, Herzog chooses not to dwell upon violence and obscenity, nor upon apathy and indolence, or the awkward tension between native and conquistador, soldier and villager as he used to. In this film, Dengler stays alive by never stumbling to deep into despair, and thus the film remains on his level. Consequently, this is Herzog's most consistently-paced and fluid film. The score is harrowing and more often present than is usual for Herzog. Moments of true silence... moments where the jungle and its soundscape take over, so common in most Herzog are decidedly lacking here. "Rescue Dawn" is something different; it is not a film that replicates the rythm of trudging through the mud or the jungle, not a film that dwells on the monotony and thus the futility of living... it is far too in motion for that... but maybe I like it. And now that MGM's got it... I'll have a few more shots to make up my mind. And oh what a fabulous ending!

Beautifully shot as always, but perhaps more pretty than usual, the film's visual inconsistencies and more fluid conventional editing style I think were what have kept me from calling it a masterpiece. Were these alterations in approach incidental, were they specific choices of Herzog's, were they the meddlings of producers and a Hollywood trained crew? Who knows... The two things I can say affirmatively are this is one of the best acted movies I've seen in a while. All three of the main performances are brilliant, and Bale is as I said a revelation. Also, the score is the best I've heard this year.

This is far from the train wreck it was purported to be, and maybe that just goes to show how much a resourceful master can do with a basket full of rotten in eggs - a little like Dieter Dengler himself.

[gubbelsj]

I just received the December issue of Harper's, and lo and behold, it features a nice, long, adulatory piece on Werner Herzog by Tom Bissell, called "The Secret Mainstream: Contemplating the Mirages of Werner Herzog". The article covers the new film, his career as a whole, and an interview from Herzog's LA home. As much as I enjoyed and admired the work of former Harper's editor Lewis Lapham, he was a bit of a culture snob, and following his departure, I had a secret hope the magazine would begin devoting an occasional glance towards cinema. Here's hoping this continues - it's certainly a wonderful start.
Sorry, no links available. But the issue should be popping up in libraries soon.

[Jeff]

I saw this at its U.S. premiere in Denver tonight, and I'll agree with che-etienne for the most part. I think that this is Herzog's most accessible narrative film. It's something of a crowd-pleaser, with all of the pros and cons that come with that label. Christian Bale's performance is bound to be recognized, and Jim Nabo...er, Steve Zahn is decidedly non-annoying and downright unZahnian. It has a crackerjack second act (ohmygod I'm Peter Travers) that takes place entirely in a Laotian P.O.W. camp. Herzog must be mellowing with age, as this is the most pro-America, pro-triumphofthehumanspirit film I've seen in a long time. The finale unspooled a bit too quickly for me with a series of events that strained credulity, and a final shot that would suit Norma Rae far better than Little Dieter.

The film is far from the disaster that had been predicted. It is beautifully shot and edited, even if the pacing didn't feel quite right at the end. I'm not sure where Jeffrey Welles source was coming from. The film is nothing if not coherent, and should be Herzog's most popular with mainstream American audiences.

[Sanjuro]

Crowd friendly Herzog should mean plenty of funding for more excursions into the wilderness for those of us who prefer Herzog's musings on the bizarre wonders outside of the mainstream.

Sounds good to me.

[Antoine Doinel]

I just received the December issue of Harper's, and lo and behold, it features a nice, long, adulatory piece on Werner Herzog by Tom Bissell, called "The Secret Mainstream: Contemplating the Mirages of Werner Herzog". The article covers the new film, his career as a whole, and an interview from Herzog's LA home. As much as I enjoyed and admired the work of former Harper's editor Lewis Lapham, he was a bit of a culture snob, and following his departure, I had a secret hope the magazine would begin devoting an occasional glance towards cinema. Here's hoping this continues - it's certainly a wonderful start.

Yes, I too hope this points to more cinema coverage in Harper's. Despite the awkard passion the author has for Herzog, it is a very good overview of his work and the new film. I just hope the final shot of the film isn't as corny as it sounds in the article.

[Antoine Doinel]

A new trailer has arrived

[exte]

I saw that in theaters before Apocalypto I believe. You must promise me never to eat this twinkee. Do it. Be a vinner. Sorry, had to...

[Hai2u]

US Release in early July supposedly. 89% rottentomatoes.

[BusterK.]

Anyone knows if Herzog utlimately had complete creative control during the shooting (and the cutting room)? I had read many article last year about how the producers were constantly interfering with him in Thailand...

[miless]

Anyone knows if Herzog utlimately had complete creative control during the shooting (and the cutting room)? I had read many article last year about how the producers were constantly interfering with him in Thailand...

I believe that he did end up getting his way, as his stars' representatives badgered the production company into forcing them to make the film how Herzog wanted it (as their clients had intended to make a Herzog film, not a crappy hollywood war movie)
Plus, he has cut the film down after showing it at several film festivals (I saw it at the Portland Int. Film Fest. and they announced that the version we were seeing was going to be different from the eventual theatrical version, as Herzog was currently re-cutting it... and that was why Herzog bailed on Portland for a second time)...
I sure hope the sentimental cheese was cut (particularly the ending)

[Antoine Doinel]

New trailer.

[rs98762001]

I sure hope the sentimental cheese was cut (particularly the ending)

No it wasn't. That was a truly horrible last fifteen minutes.

Otherwise it's a pretty good movie, but a little disappointing to this Herzog fan. A horribly intrusive score, relatively predictable plotting, an overdose of sentiment - it's a bit Little Werner Goes To Hollywood. There are a couple of great, haunting Herzog moments though, and the sequence in the prison camp is fantastic. But AGUIRRE this ain't.

[che-etienne]

There's nothing sentimental or cheesy in that last 15 minutes. It's definitely uplifting and triumphant, and strange in that sense for Herzog. But I see little of the usual war-movie sentiment. It's not like Dengler cries over the memory of Duane. Or returns home to find that his girlfriend has left him. If anything there's an immature playfulness to the whole ending, and some buddy movie homoeroticism. That I did not like. Still, the overall effect on the viewer is one of arousal, not heart strings being pulled.

EDIT: this is not to say I liked the ending. I feel that especially in comparison to "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" the ending and indeed the entire film lacked power and insight.

[rs98762001]

I feel that especially in comparison to "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" the ending and indeed the entire film lacked power and insight.

Yes. Sadly and predictably, it pales in comparison to the documentary.

[tavernier]

Armond calls it a masterpiece. (Although the review's subtitle calls it a film by a certain "Wim Wender.")

[che-etienne]

Hoberman's panning of the film works well in dialogue with White's paean.

I think they both bring up valid points and criticisms. As Hoberman points out, Herzog's cavalier disregard of getting the facts straight can be extremely problematic. At the same time, Hoberman's contention that Herzog has aligned himself with the same market ideology that brought us Rambo is a radical misreading of not only the film, but of Herzog's entire cinematic universe. Herzog's cinema has always been somewhat, sometimes completely, amoral. In "Stroszek" for instance, he is less interested in Bruno's exploitation at the hands of specifically United States bureaucracy or German bureaucracy than the failure of bureaucracies in general. Herzog could care less about exploitation or social norms. To him, civilization is a precarious notion whether the civilization in question is a good one or a bad one. That said, it cannot be denied that in his earlier films including "Stroszek" there is an obvious feeling of restlessness, an apocalyptic urgency that called for a more caustic and biting critique of society. A quality that perhaps made these earlier fiction films more easily palatable for politically engaged critics and intellectuals. There has often been in Herzog this existential angst tempering the boyish romanticism. This is perhaps why so many have been disappointed with "Fitzcarraldo" in comparison to "Aguirre". The latter's critique of the folly of the conquistador was much more politically edgy (correct?), while the former was unabashedly, impossibly romantic in its portrayal of a benevolent Kurtz.

"Rescue Dawn" is much more like "Fitzcarraldo", but even less inhibited by doubt. Here the filmmaker's boyish romanticism has gone into overdrive. The film has a fluidity and assuredness yet unseen in a Herzog film. A criticism of the film brought up by many, even Herzog himself, has been that it does not dwell long enough on individual moments, especially those of sublime poignance. Herzog cites one scene where Bale blurts out a line of spontaneous poetry, a shot which he feels he should have held longer. Perhaps one could argue that such extensions would only make the film more romantic, because we would then be dwelling longer on the sublime But I contend that it has always been this undercurrent of mystery and malaise so menacing that has given sublime moments like the butterfly in "Aguirre" their existential counter-point. Herzog continually reminds us in his other fiction films even "Fitzcarraldo" that our feet are on the ground. There is a sense of the weight of the camera that belies a pained acknowledgment of one's inability to transcend the boundaries of space and time even in the face of transporting sights. The romantic vision becomes at once a trap of the mind, a reflection of the toll that the physical world has inflicted upon the individual.

In "Rescue Dawn", however, Herzog adopts the use of dollies and even cranes. The camera sails and floats, with dizzying swiftness. In the camp, no shot is held any longer than needed. Though montage has almost always been functional in his films, in former works it at least preserved the internal rhythm of the shots. Thus, even though the compositions sport Herzog's trademark baroque stylization, the effect is sterilized by conventional editing, coupled with equally conventional use of music (even if again the music itself is not so conventional). This diminution of individual style to convention is consistent with Herzog's other venture into genre filmmaking "Nosferatu", but that genre was decidedly closer in theme and tenet to Herzog's own aesthetic philosophy. In fact, the vampire film allowed him to take his interests to new heights of expression. In this less existential story, the colors are rich and saturated, and the lighting is even. We even see blue skies, a phenomenon once unthinkable in a Herzog jungle.

Thus, in "Rescue Dawn" what we have is a film where the uneasy transcendence, that teetering on the edge of a disintegrating universe, has been quite literally streamlined, simplified into a passage from darkness into light. This is illustrated most clearly in the contrast between the self-consciously willed reverie that closes "Little Dieter Needs to Fly", and the innocent triumph of the "Rescue Dawn" finale. The one is a traumatized mind's way of temporarily banishing demons, while the other is simple, giddy elation.

But we should be careful lest we accuse Herzog as Hoberman does of jumping on the bandwagon. The triumph here is still a pre-pubescent one. Certainly, it does not identify with the gung-ho triumphalism of Rambo. There is none of the buddy movie homo-eroticism that defines so many war films (even great ones) in "Rescue Dawn". If anything, this deft avoidance of eroticism constitutes the film's most thorough achievement. In this sense, the film is surely no propaganda tool, because even if it does reaffirm an American ideal it does so without attaching it to specific types of images. Which is to say that unlike such opportunistically commercial endeavors as Stone's recent "World Trade Center", it does not traffic in easy stereotypes like those of the all-American hero: the man of law, the white man (and the hispanic who may as well be white, a concession to an ever-expanding minority), the nuclear family, baseball, and evangelical Christianity. "Rescue Dawn" embraces the American ideal only in the abstract, as a child who knows neither race nor creed nor politics does. It straddles that line between idealization and romanticization.

I am not saying "Rescue Dawn" is a masterpiece, but it is nonetheless a lovely movie. It was clearly a very emotional experience for Herzog to dramatize the key episode in a dear friend's life. The result is a very touching tribute to one man. If, with the documentary, we received a portrait of the man, in the fiction film we now have a song in his honor, much like the epic songs that grace John Ford's westerns. So I don't find the film's romanticism to be irresponsible. It is only problematic if misread, an accusation that could be launched at many a Ford film.

Indeed, there is a touch of Ford in this new work. Of course, Herzog does not even begin to approach the same level of self-torment and doubt that dominates and problematizes Ford's films and their moral politics, but Ford similarly had found a way of characterizing male camaraderie without homo-eroticism. When Ford men are isolated, they revert to their most boyish, like the cavalry troop in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (e.g. the bar room brawl near the end). And his sense of competition is never weighted as it is in Hawks ("Red River") with homo-erotic undertones. With "Rescue Dawn", Herzog has achieved something similar. There's a playful, immature tone to the prison camp sequences, as evidenced by the scene where the other captives regale Dieter with a whispered happy birthday. The eccentric optimism of these men, maintained in the face of adversity and oblivion, is where Herzog finds the truth of his tale. So how can I criticize him too harshly for laying on the music for emotional emphasis, when it's so lovely?