Movie Review: Rescue Dawn

Rescue Dawn
Christian Bale as Dieter
Steve Zahn as Duane
Directed by Werner Herzog

Several weeks ago, Jen and I went on a lovely date. We had a delightful dinner at P.F. Chang's downtown, and then went to... a war movie.

Jen loves war movies. Even more than me. However, this is not your average war movie. It's about an Air Force pilot who survives a plane crash in enemy territory right before the Vietnam War. It didn't even make it up to the top ten in the box office numbers, despite it's great reviews.

It's a true story about Dieter Dengler and his capture as a prisoner of war. The cool thing about this movie is that it's not really a war movie. I'd label it more as "A Day in the Life of a P.O.W.-Drama Psycho-Social War Movie."

There was very little violence. The majority of the movie was how Dieter socialized with the other P.O.W.'s in the little camp in the middle of the jungle. Many of the other prisoners have been there for years and have given up escape. Dieter doesn't accept this attitude and eventually figures out a way they can all escape.

What fascinated me was that once they finally got out, they scattered. Only Deiter and his good friend Duane stuck together. One of the prisoners was all alone in the jungle and you could tell that he wasn't going to make it. He was certainly going to go crazy without the normal routine with his fellow captives.

Why didn't they stay together? If they worked together in order to break out of prison, they certainly should have worked together to find their way out of the jungle. God created us to be social beings and to work together in relationship with others. Even before creation, God was together in a perfect relationship: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are designed the same way.

This movie helped me remember how important it really is to work together in relationship. We can't overcome life's obstacles by ourselves, otherwise we'd go crazy.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Image from rottentomatoes.com