Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: an incredible (new) performance from Christian Bale!
We know that Christian Bale is an actor capable of the most radical physical transformations for a role. With Rescue Dawn, a film released directly on DVD here in 2008 with almost total anonymity, the Briton does not deviate from his impressive habit.
Directed by Werner Herzog, the feature film Rescue Dawn plunges the viewer into 1965, at the dawn of the Vietnam War. During a secret mission, US Army pilot Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) is shot down over Laos.
Held in the middle of the jungle, the enemy inflicted the worst torture and humiliation on him. Determined to fight for his survival, Dieter then organizes an escape…
Filmed entirely in Thailand, Rescue Dawn is inspired by the true story of Dieter Dengler, an aviator of German origin who found himself a prisoner during the Vietnam War.
Proof that Werner Herzog was fascinated by this story? The German director had already dedicated a documentary to him in 1997, entitled Little Dieter Must Fly.
To play Dieter Dengler in Rescue Dawn, Christian Bale has once again physically transformed himself. Here he had to lose nearly twenty kilos… An exercise to which the Welsh actor is accustomed since he had already lost 28 kilos during the filming of The Machinist… before regaining them to play under the direction by Christopher Nolan in Batman Begins.
In 2008, AlloCiné asked Christian Bale why he had agreed, with Rescue Dawn, to shoot in difficult conditions, between humidity and heat. “It’s because I like visiting hell”he replied, laughing.
“I knew Werner would be the right person to take us there. The idea of doing this kind of thing really appealed to me. I love testing myself and seeing how far I can go.”
Tonight on Arte at 8:55 p.m.
The Top 5 characters who eat live animals (like Dieter Dengler in “Rescue Dawn”):