Christian Bale is probably most known as the actor who loves to push his physical condition to the limit. He lost weight to the point of skin and bones just for the movie ‘The Machinist’ and now he’s challenging himself again in… ‘Rescue Dawn.
Despite the fact that now he is Batman, he’s one of those actors that always try other new difficult roles to play even if it means independent films that don’t pay much.
‘Rescue Dawn’ is the true story about the only American to ever break out of a POW camp in the impenetrable Laotian jungle during the early years of Vietnam War. He made friends with other POWs at the camp and they were planning to escape. After months plotting his getaway from a harrowing prison and a death-defying journey through some of the world’s fiercest wilderness, Dengler made it out alive with simply a strong will to survive that allowed him to triumph against impossible odds.
This movie is filled whispers. Everyone’s whispering with one another for the most part of the film. I think Steve Zahn did an excellent job as war prisoner who chose to follow Dengler. I think Steve deserves an Oscar nomination for best suporting actor category. But that’s just my vote.
There has been many movies in the past that dealt with prisoners of war and the attempts to escape, such as the classic movie ‘Bridge on River Kwai’. But the movie ‘Rescue Dawn’ gave you a more gritty and raw feeling to the whole theme of survival and the will to live.
Director Werner Herzog succeded in delivering to us the audiences a picture of how brutal the life of a POW must’ve been back in Vietnam War. Christian Bale’s American accent’s not bad at all, just as he’s shown in the crappy movie ‘Harsh Times’.
Did you know that Christian Bale defeated 4000 other kids in the audition for the role in ‘Empire of the Sun’, which is a Steven Spielberg ’s film back in 1987?! That sure says a lot about how talented this actor is.
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