While this film may have some merit from an artistic perspective, it's factual perspective is horrendous.

Herzog deters dramatically from the truth, yet Rescue Dawn is promoted as being "true." Rescue Dawn is merely a factual premise that is filled in with Herzog's imaginary characters that unfortunately borrow the names of real people. It is also filled with numerous errors by omission that are assumed to be factual. It does not stay true to the book on which it is based, Escape from Laos, misinforms the general public, and is a slap in the face to the families and friends of the real POWs involved in the story.

As a family member of "Gene from Eugene", who was born in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, by the way, I have lived with this situation for over 40 years and find the movie to be extremely offensive.

For more information on the REAL Gene DeBruin and the true facts behind Rescue Dawn, I encourage you to read the book, Escape From Laos, by Dieter Dengler, and visit any of the following websites:

http://rescuedawnthetruth.com

http://genedebruin.weebly.com

http://genedebruin.bloggerspot.com

http://www.smokejumpers.com/smokejumper_magazine/item.p...gazine_editions_id=7

http://www.smokejumpers.com/smokejumper_magazine/item.p...gazine_editions_id=8

I am sorry for all the pain this situation has caused you and your family, but I hope you can stick around the forums and become a member of our community. Have you seen Herzog's earlier take on this same subject, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, and if so, what did you think of that?

quote:

Originally posted by POWMIA:
As a family member of "Gene from Eugene", who was born in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, by the way, I have lived with this situation for over 40 years and find the movie to be extremely offensive.

Welcome to the forums.

I've had long arguments with fellow film buffs about precisely why filmmakers should not attempt to bring "true stories" to the screen. Hollywood -- or, arguably, any creative process -- tends to skimp on reality in favor of what's cinematically viable. As a result, it's very difficult -- if at all possible -- to capture lightning in a bottle, and I tend to ignore most films so openly advertised as "based on a true story."

That's not to say that films like RESCUE DAWN -- which I haven't seen -- don't have merit; on the contrary, if they force folks to actually go out and discover what really happened via the source material, then those folks stand a greater chance toward enlightenment.