I don't think of myself as a hero. No, only dead people are heroes.

[thehefner]

TRANSFORMERS was kickass claptrap, highly entertaining despite not really being very good, and even better when seen "digitally" on the biggest screen possible. It could either have used a bit more IRON GIANT style heart, not to mention differentiation between the various robots (eventually, all the robots shooting and pounding each other kind of made them all look alike) and an editor (did we really need a half hour dedicated to "find the missing glasses!!!"?), but otherwise, it's a fine way to waste time at the theatres.

But the movie I really wanna see is RESCUE DAWN, the Christian Bale/Werner Herzog movie. Some critics say it's Herzog's best film since the 70's, and that it's yet another brilliant performance from Bale (not to mention Steve frickin' Zahn, finally proving his dramatic potential!).

Herzog based the movie on his own documentary, LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY, which I just watched. Dear lord, man, what a powerful story. Herzog doesn't spell much out for you, letting you realize things like how it's only because Dieter grew up in pre-WWII Germany (where his mother cooked the wallpaper for dinner, as there were nutrients in the glue) that he was able to survive his horrifying, grueling, soul-crushing experience as a POW in Laos, and his subsequent escape.

And only Werner Herzog would have the balls and the brains take this guy and hire local Lao actors to reenact scenes of his imprisonment and torment. Nothing that involves special effects or anything, but even just marching through the jungle with your hands tied is difficult for Dieter to relive. And yet all throughout, even after his rescue in 1966 up to 1997 when the documentary was made, he's somehow all smiles and good cheer, and not even Herzog can (or will try) to explain how he's managed to seemingly function so well.

It's thoroughly heartbreaking and downright cruel that he should have gone through all that, managing to survive, only to die of the late stages of Lou Gehrig's disease in 2001. It's hard to find anything poetic or bittersweet in that, aside from his own comments--conveyed through his ex-wife--that being in the prison camp was nothing compared to having ALS, that his last, worst prison would be his own body.

So yeah, giant robots are all well and good, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Christian Bale (through the mastery of Herzog's direction) channels this fascinating, disarming, and almost unbearably strong human being.

Next time I'm in Arlington Cemetery to visit my Grandfather, I'm gonna see if I can track down Dieter's grave.

Comments

[droidboy010101.livejournal.com]

I am an insane Herzog fan... he's like a best kept secret standing out in the middle of the street waving his private parts. He's been around for so long churning out brilliance for years it's shocking that he hasn't gotten the same street cred in this country as an Ang Lee, Kubrick or Sonderberg (and the man had to contend with the nutcase Klaus.) About three months ago I saw LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY and was struck by how insanely positive that man was. I'm really looking forward to Rescue Dawn, I don't thinks there's a man that can make an oppressively dense death trap like a jungle look like Eden... even as his character perish all around. Curious what the sound track will be like.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I presume you've seen this:



The man is super-sane. He's something else entirely.

[droidboy010101.livejournal.com]

I must admit the misuse of the word insane (more that I was trying to say "I'm a fanatic of his work.") Just a bit excited to find someone else raving about him which caused a little bit of repetition in vocabulary and vaporlock in my comments. I totally agree he's a very calm man... Now I hadn't seen that clip before (thanks) but there's a fun doc that came with the Kinski/Herzog box set called My Best Fiend about his relationship w/ Klaus Kinski where he's zen and Kinski is raving.

Don