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Christian Bale and Steve Zahn star in Rescue Dawn, an action drama by Werner Herzog and based on the director's acclaimed 1997 documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly. The film recounts the true story of German-born Dieter Dengler, who dreamed of being a pilot and eventually made his way to the United States, where he joined the military during the Vietnam War era. He was shot down over Vietnam and captured.

From the reviews:

... a film you won’t soon forget ... captivating, flat-out astounding ... sensational ... electrifying ... wrenching ... harrowingly realistic and unsentimentalized ...