In 1966, American pilot Dieter Dengler is shot down over Laos and held in a prison camp with other captives, where he plans an escape. Herzog filmed it in a Thai jungle, and you can feel the wet, heavy air and the weight loss on the actors.
Rescue Dawn is a 2007 war, drama and adventure film directed by Werner Herzog. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative, 1 cinematography and 1 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Mighty Aphrodite uses several of the same techniques.
Building the whole plot on one character's fixation with a person, goal or rival. Every scene ties back to it, and the obsession keeps feeding itself while it destroys them.
How this film uses it
Dengler cannot stop planning to escape. From the day he arrives, he studies the guards, the fence and the schedule. Every scene feeds that plan, and his fixation keeps the other prisoners going.
Where to see it
The camp: Dengler looks over the fence and the guards soon after he arrives. He tells his fellow prisoners he plans to escape.
Filming in recognizable real places so the setting acts like part of the cast. Streets, buildings and landscapes shape the mood of the story.
How this film uses it
The jungle is real. The film was shot over 44 days in Thailand, in humid, muddy and dense forest. The place feels like a main character that is as dangerous as the guards.
Where to see it
The Mekong: Dengler and Duane push through the jungle to the river and find rapids and a waterfall. Their raft plan collapses.
Showing a character's inner change through their body: weight, posture, movement, injury or recovery. The body becomes a visible record of what happened to them and what it cost.
How this film uses it
The actors lost weight to look like starving prisoners. The production shot in reverse order, so Christian Bale put the weight back on during filming. The body tells you how long and how hard the ordeal is.
Where to see it
The camp: the prisoners are skinny and exhausted, wearing rags. Months pass, food runs short, and they learn the guards plan to kill them.
Cutting a character off from others, whether by space, confinement or mission, and showing the mind coming apart. Without outside contact, their grip on reality slips.
How this film uses it
After Duane is killed, Dengler is alone in the jungle, hiding and starving. Cut off from everyone, he is worn down to nearly nothing, but he keeps going.
Where to see it
After the village: angry villagers kill Duane. Dengler flees into the jungle and hides until an American helicopter finds him.
Questions
Rescue Dawn: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Rescue Dawn use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Rescue Dawn (2007): Obsession as Structural Engine, Real Locations as Character, Physical Transformation as Arc and Isolation-Induced Breakdown.
Who directed Rescue Dawn?
Werner Herzog directed Rescue Dawn, released in 2007. CineCode also covers Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972).
What films are similar to Rescue Dawn?
Films that share techniques with Rescue Dawn include Mighty Aphrodite (1995), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), The Prestige (2006), Joker (2019).
