Screening Log

This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.

August 2007 activity

Total Log Entries: 52

Total Comments: 35

Full Archive

Rescue Dawn / USA / 2006

Given Herzog’s frenetic inclination towards authenticity, I was surprised by his use of special effects in the scene where Dieter Dengler’s plane is shot down. Perhaps it’s a tool to highlight Dengler’s affinity towards flight, a passion rooted so deeply in his life that his first flight seems romanticized, almost surreal. Or perhaps the director is simply sampling what Hollywood magicians have to offer.

Nevertheless, once those few seconds of irregular Hollywood magic disappear, Rescue Dawn falls into the lap of Christian Bale as Dengler, and he runs with it. Over the next two hours he becomes increasingly emaciated, eats maggots, crawls through mud, endures leeches, and is repeatedly shot at. At the same time, Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies completely steal the film from him as two POWs—soft-spoken Duane, who becomes Dengler’s closest ally, and a delusional American named Gene.

A great film, though the documentary on which this is based could never be outdone, even by Herzog himself.

Chiranjit’s Review

by Adam Balz | Source: 35MM Theatrical Print
13 Aug 2007 2:34 PM | Submit Comment

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