I just finished watching Little Dieter Needs to Fly, a documentary film by Werner Herzog. The film came out in 2002 but is getting a lot of press these days because of Herzog's new upcoming film, Rescue Dawn (out on July 4th in select cities), that tells the same story as Little Dieter. The new film stars Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, and Jeremy Davies (the weak translator from Saving Private Ryan). You might also remember Werner Herzog from his prior work on Grizzly Man, another very heavy and slightly unsettling film.
The subject matter in Little Dieter is intense. It describes how Dieter, a native German who came to the US to join the Air Force, was caught in Vietnam after his plane crashed. He was starved and tortured, but the most interesting part is his demeanor in the film as he describes what happened to him. He casually paints a detailed picture of the pain he went through and the torture methods his captors used on him. It's a very moving documentary, and I can't imagine the upcoming film affecting me any less. I highly recommend watching the documentary before seeing Rescue Dawn to get a context for what the story is about.
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