Editor

The 29th Starz Denver Film Festival culminated, this Saturday, November 18 at the Buell Theatre with the most recent film from highly-acclaimed director Werner Herzog, RESCUE DAWN starring Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, and Jeremy Davies followed by the Last Reel Party at Mile High Station.

Christian Bale stars as Deiter Dengler, a German-born pilot so eager for adventure that he volunteers for the Vietnam War. Once in the air, the gung-ho Dieter is almost immediately shot down; captured by Laotian soldiers and dumped in a brutal prison camp to face torture and starvation. Dieter convinces the other American soldiers to attempt an escape; he knows the jungle is every bit as dangerous as the camp but is unwilling to leave his fate in the hands of the enemy.

Its difficult to imagine a project better suited for Werner Herzog than this story of a Navy pilot who makes a daring escape from a Laotian prison camp. All of the hallmarks of Herzogs best films are here: the mystical, deadly power of nature, the blurred line between courage and insanity, the exploration of that productive region where the real and the imaginary coexist.