Rescue Dawn

Watched this in an old, cramped movie theater.
It was a great and spiffy place when it
was first built, but that was when I was
a boy. Now it is a bit worn and run down.
At one point the projector shifted and we
were only watching the top 1/3 of the picture.
Somebody must have complained to the manager,
because it got fixed.

The movie itself tells a fascinating story
of a navy pilot, Dieter Dengler, shot down
over Laos during the Vietnam War. He is
captured by the Pathet Lao and kept prisoner
for 5 or 6 months before he and other prisoners
stage a break and escape. After 20 some days
on the run, he is found by rescue choppers and
airlifted to safety.

The movie presents Dieter as a little goofy.
It's hard to picture him as a navy pilot
or a serious escape artist. Also, he doesn't
seem to have a real driving force in him
that led him to champion the prison break
against the supposed opposition of his
fellow POWs. About the only thing that
is pictured is his drive to fly, but that
won't carry the weight of the premise.
He does pray at one point while he is in
the jungle, but the plot point doesn't lead
any particular direction. I wondered why
his prayer was punctuated by pictures of
flowing, sunlit grain (rice?).

Good movie. Worth seeing. Not playing
the big theaters.

ofs