Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Good concept, poorly executed.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997) **** (out of 4) Powerful documentary from Werner Herzog about the escape of Dieter Dengler from a POW camp was the inspiration for Rescue Dawn. It's very interesting seeing a director make a film off of a documentary he made because you get to see the different ways that both genres can be done by the same mind. I would say this film is a lot more powerful and I say that because it's rather hypnotizing seeing Dieter tell his stories of torture and escape. Dieter goes back to some of the real locations to tell what happened to him and it's quite haunting hearing him say that it's a mystery how he survived all that he went through. Herzog brings his normal flair to the picture by not really doing anything except letting this man tell his story. The stories are at times shocking and at other times inspirational but the film ends with one of the most beautiful scenes from any Herzog film.

Another Werner Herzog documentary. How he manages to find these TRUE stories, I do not know, but it must consume him. His film "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" was created from the diary of the Spanish Priest who accompanied Coronado's search for the City of Gold, Eldorado. His film "The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser" (also known as "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" or "All for One, and God Against All") was created from a centuries-old file (1828) found in the "city" hall of small German village. "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" is the ASTOUNDING life story of a German boy who, during the deadly bombings of Germany in the last years of WWII, decided he wanted to fly aeroplanes, and to accomplish this he must move to America. Although thrown off the path for a few years (but learning skills he never expected to NEED), he eventually found himself flying in 1966 – for America – over Viet Nam. This is the story of a man who was shot down, deprived, beaten, tortured, and left for dead more than once, until he didn't know what was real and what was his imagination. At all. How he survived, what he remembers, and what life was like for him over the next 30 years is the stuff of breath-taking pain and awe. TRUST Herzog. See ALL his films.

I had the opportunity to see this last evening at a local film festival. Herzog introduced the film and did an hour long Q&A afterward.This is a brilliantly done "documentary"; Herzog explained afterward that he does not consider his films to be true documentary since facts sometimes camouflage the truth. Instead he scripts some scenes and ad-libs some to introduce a new element that may have been missed if he followed the original story outline.Little Dieter, unlike Timothy Treadwell, is a real person that you fall in love with; you cheer for him, you feel the anguish that he feels. You admire the sense of humor and joy for life that he exhibited here 30 years after he was taken into captivity by the Viet Cong. You are disappointed to hear afterward that Dieter passed on not too long ago.As in most Herzog films, the imagery is breathtakingly beautiful with a wonderful choice of background music. Especially a scene of battle taken from archives of the Viet Nam war but fitting the story line of Dieter.The core of the film has Dieter return to the hellish jungle where he was a POW and he re-enacts his journey with some locals. Harrowing for us to watch, I can't imagine what he felt as he was bound again.One of the better films to depict and discuss the nightmare of the Viet Nam war. It should serve as a lesson to us all.

I consider this a breathtaking but deceptive film because it seems so simple and straightforward: a Vietnam survivor tells his harrowing tale and some of the story is reenacted on location. Reviewers sometimes even claim that Herzog's presence in the film is minimal, but how wrong they are. We know that all documentaries are "mediated" to some extent and this one has Herzog's subtle hand all over it, most notably in the stunning music, the unbelievably expert selection of archival footage, and the management of cascading images. The evocative power of this film is astounding, starting with its title, the opening title card from the book of "Revelation," and the initial voice-over. This is a movie that one can watch repeatedly with increasing wonder, not a simple commodity that is gulped down with one's favorite beverage on the way to the evening news. This is one of those movies that can resonate with you for a lifetime.