This documentary is primarily made for the German television broadcasting purpose. The director and writer of this film is Werner Herzog and the production credit goes to Werner Herzog Filmproduktion. Herzog also made a movie called “Rescue Dawn” that is based on the real events portrayed in this documentary.
The story is revolved around the Vietnam veteran and a Navy pilot, Dieter Dengler, with whom Herzog could identify and relate to. The life of Dengler is full of hardships, from the childhood in the war devastated Germany, to the frustration caused by the struggle for the pilot position in the aviation forces to the crash landing of his plane and capture in Laos.
Herzog and Dengler collaborate on this project and together they travel to Vietnam, which was a very emotional trip for Dengler due to his traumatic experiences as a captive. The goal of Herzog is to try and record, as accurately as possible, the life and the ordeals of Dengler.
The Hollywood version of this extraordinary and emotional documentary is released on July 24th in 2007 and the role of Dieter Dengler was played by Christian Bale.
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