Rescue Dawn: No Longer Patriotic?

MGM's decision to release Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn on July 4 was more than just a clever Transformers counter-programming gambit: it was an implicit attempt to mark the German director's POW drama, a dramatic remake of his own documentary Little Dieter Needs To Fly, as a red state-targeted tribute to American patriotism.

And to some extent, it worked: conservative film blog LIBERTAS called Rescue "a good old-fashioned patriotic war film", but reserved their highest praise for the film's director: "Herzog is a genius and a true iconoclast. He's a rebel and a free-thinker. The lemmings desperate to be loved and fit in make the other kind of war film, the true counter-culture makes this kind." And in a blog post dated July 27, conservative commentator Debbie Schlussel named Rescue Dawn "the best movie of the year."

Less than a month later, Schlussel has changed her tune considerably. In a post on her website dated August 16, Schlussel points to site called Rescue Dawn: The Truth, which claims that Herzog altered facts in Rescue Dawn in order to make Dieter Dengler appear to be more of a hero than he actually was. The site bears the signature of Pisidhi Indradat, who says he was imprisoned alongside Dengler but was omitted from Rescue Dawn; and Jerry DeBruin, brother of Gene DeBruin, who was played in the film by Jeremy Davies.

DeBruin and Indradat are primarily upset that Herzog gave the Dengler character the bulk of the credit for planning and executing the escape from Laos. They insist that, in real life, these plans were already in the hopper before Dengler ever got to the camp. In fact, they say they waited a few weeks to tell him about the escape because they didn't know if they could trust a guy with a German accent. DeBruin is also angry at Herzog's depiction of his brother as an antagonist to Dengler, played by Davies as a "deranged and derelict Charles Manson type entity." Schlussel adds fuel to *that* fire by pointing out that Davies played Manson in a 2004 TV movie. It's clearly a conspiracy!

Originally posted posted here.

Comments

[tkondaks]

I don't know what all the fuss is about, Ms. Longworth, and why it even warrants a blog by you. Filmmakers have been taking liberty with "true stories" ever since the medium was invented. Take what is arguably the greatest American movie of the 1980s, "Raging Bull". Martin Scorcese, its director, took artistic license with both events and characters. Indeed, like "Rescue Dawn", "Raging Bull" upset several of the real-lifers portrayed. Jake LaMotta's brother, played to perfection by Joe Pesci, was a composite of several characters and this greatly upset the real person, who eventually sued Scorcese.
That's why you always see the disclaimer included in the credits of "based on a true story" films, which states that the filmmaker may have taken liberty with real events.
What's the big deal?

[larry278]

To get out of the concentration camp-join those in the constipation camp who don't go to a movie because they don't give a shit about a movie after reading the reviews or seeing a preview trailer.

[wm1066]

Man I felt like I was in that concentration camp! the movie just went on and on... I think Herzog hates moviegoers. I wanted to like this film...but god I couldn't wait for it to be over! unrelenting....He could have told this story better.

[tkondaks]

Actually, he did, wm1066.
It's called "Little Dieter needs to fly" and it's a documentary Herzog made of the real-life Dieter Dengler and his adventures in Laos.
Netflix has it. Rent it.

[wm1066]

No, I've had my fill of Herzog. I think he is a sadist.