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Plot Summary
In 1966, Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, captured, and, down to 85 pounds, escaped. Barefoot, surviving monsoons, leeches, and machete-wielding villagers, he was rescued. Now, near 60, living on Mt. Tamalpais, Dengler tells his story: a German lad surviving Allied bombings in World War II, postwar poverty, apprenticed to a smith, beaten regularly. At 18, he emigrates and peels potatoes in the U. S. Air Force. He leaves for California and college, then enlistment in the Navy to learn to fly. A quiet man of sorrows tells his story: war, capture, harrowing conditions, escape, and miraculous rescue. Where did he find the strength; how does he now live with his memories?
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
93%- Reviews Counted: 14
- Fresh: 13
- Rotten: 1
- Average Rating: 7.8/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: As often happens in Mr. Herzog's haunting documentaries, the most interesting figure seems to be the one behind the camera.
Fresh: Werner Herzog's remarkable docu tells with sharp observation and witty humor the heroic tale of the imprisonment and escape of Dieter Dengler, a native German who became an American pilot in the Vietnam War; Dengler exudes plenty of charisma.
Fresh: Herzog starts with a balding middle-aged man driving down a country lane in a convertible, and listens, questions and shapes, until the life experience of Dieter Dengler becomes unforgettable.
Fresh: Death did not want Dieter Dengler, whose life often sounds like that of a fairy tale character thrust into an existential wonderland.
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