Little Dieter needs to Fly

Starring:Eugene Deatrick, Dieter Dengler
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

Description

Educational Media Network-Winner, Golden Apple 1999 Biarritz International Festival of Audiovisual Programming-Winner, Silver FIPA 1999 San Francisco International Film Festival-Winner, Golden Spire 1998 International Documentary Association- Winner IDA Award 1997 Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival-Winner, Special Jury Award As a young boy, Dieter Dengler watched as Allied planes destroyed his village. From that instant, he knew that he wanted to fly. So at 18, he moved to America, enlisted in the Navy, and was promptly shipped off to Vietnam. During one of his first missions, however, Dengler was shot down over Laos and taken prisoner. Despite torture and starvation-at one point he weighed 85 pounds-he escaped, and after a harrowing journey through the jungle on foot, returned home. Today, even comfort and success cannot dispel the demons of his past. In this remarkable, award- winning documentary, director Werner Herzog returns to the jungle with Dengler, to tell an incredible tale of courage and survival against impossible odds. Includes a 5x7 Theatrical Poster Replica

Features: Widescreen Presentation enhanced for 16x9 TVs Production Notes Werner Herzog Bio

Customer Reviews:

Watch For Rescue Dawn in July.......2007-05-27

Herzog's follow-up to Little Dieter will be released during July in the USA. A friend saw it last night at the Seattle Film Festival and said it was outstanding - not a dry eye in the place. Christian Bale plays Dengler and had the audience believing he was Dengler.

Dieter DID need to fly.......2007-01-03

I knew Dieter very well while he was stationed at Lemoore Naval Air Station and wanted to see how he had done in the ensuing years. I was very impressed with the documentary and his part in it. Better than well done and I felt it portrayed Dieter as a totally mature person much removed from the daring Naval Aviator I had known. I was very impressed with the film and would not hesitate to reccommend it to any and all.

Compelling story, overrated documentary.......2006-04-04

This is certainly an extraordinary story about a POW who had to endure incredible hardness before gaining his freedom from a Vietcong camp controlled (as unfortunately almost every camp, even if to different extent) by sadistic guards. Mr Dengler manages to retell his story with such a detachment that it is sometimes hard to even imagine how terrible his trials must have been.

However, even if the story is truly compelling, I found the movie rather flat. It's very short (less than 90 minutes), and probably for this reason I found it quite rushed. The cinematography is nothing special, and one is just rushed through a long list of terrible event told very quickly but Mr Dengler in a very detached way. The Vietnam war is not analyzed at all, and it is just treated as the reason why Mr Dengler was in Vietnam. Something of little importance per se. At the end of the day, I have not learned much from this movie. I knew about the terrible conditions of American POW in Vietnam well before renting this DVD. This is "just" an individual story, told without much emotion. So, Mr Dengler certainly has all my compassion for his trials, but an "incredible tale of courage and survival against impossible odds" (description from the back cover of the DVD) such as this one does not per se imply that any movie describing it will be "extraordinary", "unforgettable" or "astonishing" (description from the front cover of the DVD).

A much better documentary about courage and survival (admittedly in a totally different setting) is "Touching the void", about the terrible ordeal of two climbers after a failed attempt to climb a peak. About Vietnam, two better documentaries are "Hearts and minds" (which is in my opinion much more emotionally charged, even if too biased against the US intervention) and above all "The fog of war", a documentary-biography about McNamara which also (but not only) deals with his role in the war, and is certainly one of the best documentaries I ever watched in my life. As as story about an obsession, Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" is by far a better movie than this one.

My recommendation is to rent this movie as well as Hearts and Mind, and to buy The fog of war.

No hint of bitterness.......2005-08-12

Little Dieter Needs to Fly is a tremendously uplifting movie. I was surprised that in his interviews, there is no animosity towards his captors, nor even a hint of bitterness in his voice. While he was treated inhumanely at the hands of his barbarous captors, he speaks matter-of-factly about his captivity, as if he were in school detention. His desire is only to fly again. It isn't the best movie about the POW/MIA experience (Return With Honor is), but it is definitely worth watching.

Riveting.......2004-05-01

Director Werner Herzog is obsessed with obsession. Practically all his films feature protagonists in the grip of a passion so powerful that it creates ruin for them and everyone around them. Yet it also creates a sort of tragic grandeur. The viewer feels that, in some strange inexplicable way, it was worth all the pain and suffering involved.

Since his falling out with the major movie studios in his native Germany, Herzog has restricted himself to making documentaries (they're a lot cheaper to produce than dramatic films like Fitzcarraldo or Aguirre), but he brings to them the same passionate commitment and haunting poetic sensibility that informed his famous dramas.

Here the subject is the German-American pilot Dieter Dengler, a man who, as a little boy, fell in love with flight when he made eye contact with the pilot of an Allied plane that was strafing his Bavarian village in WWII. At the age of 18 he moved to America and eventually became a Navy pilot, only to be shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War. Captured by Laotian guerillas and handed over to North Vietnamese soldiers, he endured unbelievable suffering and made a brilliant, heroic escape from a POW camp. Herzog takes Mr. Dengler back to the jungles of Laos to re-enact his ordeals. All this is intercut with scenes from his comfortable home on Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, as well as his quaint little hometown in the Black Forest of Germany. Mr. Dengler is a charming, garrulous raconteur who hardly ever interrupts his fascinating, rapid-fire narration. During those rare moments when he is overcome by emotion and falls silent, it is deeply moving for him and for us. He has clearly suffered much in order to fulfill his dreams of flight. His obsession caused him tremendous pain, but it also saved him. It brings him the only real joy in his otherwise tragic life and gives him a reason to live.

Description

Inspired the New Film RESCUE DAWN starring Chirstian Bale (Batman Begins), Steve Zahn (Sahara), Jeremy Davies (Secretary) in theaters December 1, 2006. Directed by Werner Herzog

Customer Reviews:

Watch For Rescue Dawn in July.......2007-05-27

Dieter DID need to fly.......2007-01-03

Compelling story, overrated documentary.......2006-04-04

No hint of bitterness.......2005-08-12

Riveting.......2004-05-01

Customer Reviews:

A must for Herzog fans.......2007-05-30

With or without Klaus Kinski, Werner Herzog takes us into strange realms of the human spirit. This collection is eclectic, wonderful, and an absolute must for Herzog fans. Hypnotized actors, evil little people, gorgeous, capable Eva Mattes, and the indescribable Bruno S. make up this disturbing, brilliant collection. Ann Doreen

Wonderful films, Anchor Bay has a few problems.......2006-04-17

These are stunning films. "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser" is one of the classics; the shot of the rye field in the wind alone is worth the price of admission. It's good that Anchor Bay is emphasizing that they'll rectify defective disks, though, because problems abound. Thanks to an earlier reviewer for posting their complaints URL! On my copy of "Kaspar Hauser" the commentary simply won't turn off (and it's not that I haven't figured out how, because it turns off on the other disks). Then occasionally it turns off all by itself, but if you try to get the subtitles, it turns back on -- so you can't watch the film WITH subtitles but WITHOUT commentary. Exasperating! While I was fiddling with commentaries, however, I managed to watch the whole of "Heart of Glass" with commentary. "Heart of Glass" is not the most accessible film -- not because, as Herzog says, it's slow, but because hypnotized actors are more like zombies than actors. But the film with the commentary on is the most surreal, fascinating experience -- the stories behind the making of the film are an artwork in themselves. The same is true of "Kaspar Hauser" -- an unintended benefit of the disk problem. Providing Anchor Bay makes good on their defective disks, this is a great set.

Lost & Found: "Fata Morgana" .......2005-12-29

I've encountered a snag with "Fata Morgana" as well-- in my case, it was missing entirely. However, I contacted Anchor Bay's feedback department (http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com/index.asp?p=FAQ_Problem) and they sent me a fully functional DVD pretty quickly. I'm glad they did, as it's a gorgeous piece well worth seeing.

Manufacturing defect?.......2005-08-03

Has anyone else had a problem with 'Lessons of Darkness/Fata Morgana'? I've tried two different copies of this box set and the same few minutes at the end of Fata Morgana won't play. It skips and goes back to the DVD menu.

Regardless of that, the box set is worth it. An amazing collection of films, well put together. I want to see the end of 'Fata Morgana', but the other six movies are spectacular.

Werner Herzog - An Unconventional Study.......2005-03-14

Those that are new to the world of Werner Herzog are advised to stay away from this boxset until they discover his collaborations with actor Klaus Kinski... The HERZOG/KINSKI boxset (also from Anchor Bay) is essential, and should be your first exposure to this challenging director's work.

Those of you that have seen his more famous works (AGUIRRE, NOSFERATU, FITZCARRALDO, etc.) and want to explore further into Herzog's catalogue, then this is the ideal boxset. It's important to note, though, that it's a fairly unconventional series of films that vary wildly from style and genre.

There are only two "conventional" films in this boxset and those are THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER and STROSZEK. Despite the fact that both films have fairly linear plots, they often slip into the director's notorious weirdness (the final few minutes of STROSZEK for instance).

There are three documentaries in this boxset. LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY is the most straightfoward of the bunch but features a riveting story of wartime survival. LESSONS OF DARKNESS is about the burning of the oil fields in Iraq, and it features an almost subliminal science-fiction approach to the material (if I wasn't told about it in the liner notes, I don't think I would have picked it up on my first viewing). FATA MORGANA is certainly a strange film, the genesis of which came about Herzog's desire to film mirages in the desert.

Rounding out the package are the two feature length experimental films, and the real highlight of this boxset. HEART OF GLASS is a bizarre twist on a local folk tale in which the entire cast (with the exception of one character) performed under hypnosis... the effect is startling and quite eerie. EVEN DWARFS STARTED SMALL is my favorite of the director's non-Kinski films, and simply defies explanation... dwarfs, camels, cars riding around in circles, chickens. It's all an exercise in absurdist anarchy, and you simply can't stop watching it.

Recommended for fans of the surreal.

Aguirre - The Wrath Of God / Fitzcarraldo / Little Dieter Needs to Fly (Werner Herzog 3 Pack)

Average customer rating:

Aguirre - The Wrath Of God / Fitzcarraldo / Little Dieter Needs to Fly (Werner Herzog 3 Pack)

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B0002700WO

Product Description

Werner Herzog: Director. Writer. Producer. Has studied history, literature and theatre, but hasn't finished it. Founded his own production company in 1963. Has staged several operas, besides others in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has won numerous national and international awards for his films.

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