Do it for real, bitch!

Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn and the Benefits of Actual Reality in Film

My former film teacher, Robert T. Eberwein, who happens to be one of the greatest living film scholars you haven’t heard about, often lamented in class that the prevalence of CGI in film today greatly interrupts the viewing experience. Even the best CGI money can buy will force the audience to come out of the moment and think, wow, that was some good special effects. There’s hardly a way to see a film these days, especially this deep into the summer months, that doesn’t bring about such a momentary, if not several momentary interruptions of either “Wow” or “Dear God, that looked terrible. Who the hell got paid for that crap?”

Last week, I had the pleasure of seeing the a film with no computerized effects that isn’t either an indie-film family drama or boy-meets-girl but isn’t-ready-for-commitment so will-they-stay-together type thing. After months of constant release date changes, Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn was released. It was a priority viewing primarily due to the presence of the great Christian Bale, but also because I am finally being clued into the ways of Herzog. Bale’s utterly natural performance, bizarre accent and all, is magic. In fact, his accent alone should banish any further Academy Award Ceremonies. Every time I see a new Christian Bale performance I cackle at the idea that some bunch of studio execs actually believed that Leonardo DiCaprio, as an actor (but also as a name) was the better man to portray yuppie sociopath, Patrick Bateman in 2000’s American Psycho. Seriously? I could maybe see DiCaprio pulling off the role now, but Bale owned it then, and he still cartwheels miles around DiCaprio. He pretty much is better than everyone.

But I digress because the point of my musings is not the superhuman talent czar that is Christian Bale, but Werner Herzog’s breath-of-fresh-air film. In a brief synopsis, the film sounds like another prison break/war film. An Air Force pilot is shot down on his first mission during the Vietnam War, and is interned in a Viet Cong run prison camp. Even if you learn that this particular tale is based on actual events, so what? What war film isn’t? Perhaps it peeks your interest a smidge more when you learn that the main character, Dieter Dengler, is a German-born American whose village was bombed by the U.S. during World War II, and as his hometown was being laid to waste all he could think about were the amazing fighter planes and how he needed to fly. Dengler, played brilliantly by Christian Bale, doesn’t operate like everybody else. His funny accent aside, it becomes increasingly clear as the film progresses that this human being thrives on the elusive emotion of unabashedly pure hope. The feeling of hope in Rescue Dawn feels unique because Dengler isn't constantly compelled to explain his gut instinct. It’s just a given for him. Unlike his fellow captives, it would never even occur to him to just give in and sit around for two-plus years. He is immediately formulating an escape plan, utterly undeterred by warnings of death by the hands of the Viet Cong or the perilous jungle. Perhaps it’s easy for me to say from the comfort of a theater seat, but Dengler’s determination and resilience was infectious and it was almost difficult to understand why the other POWs were so hesitant. The lack of doubt and fear is why Dengler lived to tell his tale.
A lack of doubt and fear must also be the reason why Christian Bale lived to discuss this film in interviews. Werner Herzog clearly does not make sure to provide trailers and craft service tables for his actors. “Dedication” is only one of the words that stuck out in my mind as I watched Christian Bale hanging upside down with an ant’s nest tied to his face while an angry guard spun him around in dizzying circles. He is dragged on his ass through dirt, and barefoot 98% of the time. Steve Zahn never warmed my heart more than as the scruffy-bearded, under-fed Duane, whom Dieter makes a point to look out for. He just looks so exhaustedly pathetic and small. Jeremy Davies gives the performance of his career as the just cracked-up Gene. His skeletal frame rivals that of Bale’s in The Machinist.

There is no studio lot in all of Hollywood that could capture the unpredictability of a true jungle, and it shows onscreen as you watch these startlingly malnourished men plunging desperately through the Vietnamese landscape (though apparently this was filmed in Thailand). The oppressive amount of foliage, large insects, rivers suddenly shifting into waterfalls, monsoon season; it’s just another day in Laos, baby. These examples onscreen prove that no computer whiz can ever truly match the intensity of reality. No blue screen can beat hauling a camera crew up a mountain, period. I dare anyone to prove me wrong.

I am overjoyed that in the summer of 2007 I sat through an epic film that had not ONE shred of CGI. I can’t say it enough! Who among you doesn’t want that same feeling? A recent reviewer in, I believe, Entertainment Weekly stated that she found Bale’s weight loss in the film to be obscene because there are millions of starving people in the world who don’t have the luxury of voluntary weight fluxuation. I imagine she was referencing his phenomenal portrayal in The Machinist as well. Maybe I’d give that one to her if she worked for FEMA, but she’s a film reviewer! If as a film critic you take issue with authenticity and skill, please quit and give me your job! I could really use it to pay off my mounting student loans.

Give me Christian Bale’s skeletal ass and you can keep all 145 minutes of Transformers. That film, being the antithesis of Rescue Dawn, was maybe enjoyable for the first forty-five minutes. God save Shia LeBeouf from such drawn-the-hell-out pointless Michael Bay crap. I loved Transformers the cartoon, cartoon being the operative word in the sentence. How complicated does Optimus Prime need to look? Christian Bale could look like a robot if he wanted to. Actually he already did that in American Psycho, so one more point for team Bale. My point: The action in Rescue Dawn trounces Transformers. Good filmmaking will wow you with action while stimulating the part of your brain that generates thought and emotion. I shouldn’t be half asleep practically sprawled out on the seat next to me while an epic showdown between Megatron and Optimus Prime goes down. I haven’t been that bored since I saw the first XXX movie with Vin “Make it Stop” Diesel, and I was stoned.