it might not have rung true, but it underlined the seriousness and crux of Dengler's plight to escape, some military never see and experience such an intense 'journey' they're quick to make light of situations, and for the extra humour, the outcome and plight becomes all the more harrowing (just my opinion)

I saw it on Monday and thought it was great, one of the better movies of the year IMO. Great performances and a nice focused directing job by Herzog - worth seeking out.

very realistic movie, great performances by Christian and Steve. i thought the emotional impact didn't deliver as high as it should have. i think it was just missing a little something. but what an ordeal and Herzog made it seem so authentic.

I will get this DVD for sure. Though Zahn leaves me skeptical... he is serious in this role right? I just see him with some supid smile and bug eyed asking for "More Rice!"

Zahn is fantastic. I really hope he's remembered come Oscar time.

I went to a screening tonight and thought it was a very well done film. I think Zahn will get an Oscar nom as will Bale and Herzog.

Finally saw this today and thought it was well-done. I wish we found out what happened to Eugene and the other prisoners though.

Liked it a lot. One of the few war movies I have seen that did not seem to have a political viewpoint. It was neither pro-military nor anti-war. It was just a strory set in the Vietnam War. It was very interesting.

We saw about an hour of this on saturday. We got to the part where Jumbo brings them some extra rice. These old people behind us kept kicking our seats and talking loudly, it was a packed tiny theater, so we left. I got some passes to come back, hopefully we can go soon.

You need to see Little Dieter Needs To fly.

hope this shows up around me soon. i am interested in seeing it!

Yup - I plan on it.

Saw this last night and loved it. I was shocked at how great of a performance Steve Zahn turned in, definitely Oscar worthy. Of course both Bale and Herzog were in top form as usual. I really liked how Herzog opened the film with real documentary footage, it set a nice tone for the rest of the film.

Saw it today, fantastic flick. Great performances and felt very real. Great directing. I missed the first 5 minutes or so, but great movie. the whole cast was great, Shocking on what happened to Zahn. I would like to know what happened to the other POW. 9/10

Great film. Top notch acting, directing and visuals. Loved it.

Saw this yesterday afternoon with three other people in the theater. Fantastic. I knew Zahn had shown flashes of brilliance when given the opportunity, but this is something else. I will be very disappointed if he's not recognized for this performance. And I know, I know, there are so many more movies coming out, but Steve Zahn, for this role, gets nominated in any year. More people need to go see this so the movie's not forgotten.

Great film, but everyone seeing it should probably see this website, Rescue Dawn: The Truth .

Same here

Why is this not out everywhere??!

Saw this recently. An interesting film that starts off slow and a tad uninteresting, ends on too happy and cute a note, but in-between gives us an excellent, sometimes hopeful, sometimes dire, sometimes funny tale with an outstanding performance from Christian Bale. This is a side of him we've never seen before -- he's played manic characters before, he's played optimistic characters before, but never has he imbued a performance with such sweetness and innocence as he does Deiter Dengler, here. His work alone is enough to recommend this film.

One enjoyable flick. Buy the DVD if you missed its theatrical run.

Saw this a little while back thought it was pretty decent. Loved the beginning and end and although it dragged a little in the middle....the performances held it together. Yes, Zhan was fantastic.

Gotta love how hardcore Herzog is as well (watch the extras).

Ironic.

I have to say reading that makes it a bit tough to enjoy this film after the fact. I understand that true stories often need to be fictionalized to some degree to work dramatically as movies, but to demonize a real life person in such a way that is not only is completely opposite of the truth, but also doesn't really add anything to the story? What's the point of that?

I finally saw this last night, and I liked it quite a bit. I too was worried when I saw that Setve Zahn was in it, but he really pulled of Duane very well. I really loved the ending as well.