I didn't understand the scene on the carrier (before the mission) where Dengler talks to the quartermaster(?) bloke about making him a mosquito net and then says some stuff about his passport. I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic, making a joke or even being racist.
Someone please explain. Thanks.
Well, the movie doesn't really explain things very well in general. In that scene Dengler is asking the bloke to make him a wallet thing that can go in his boot to keep his passport safe. This is suppose to show the viewer how important being an American was to Dengler and how clever and organized he was, this resolution is what helps him to escape in the end.
However, I only realised all this after I watched the whole movie and I watched the special features in the DVD, where they told Dieter's real story. During the movie, I must admit, I didn't have a clue he was German or that we were supposed to get hooked on the fact that he was so resolute to survive. I thought he was just some bigmouth American pilot who is too useless to get pass his first mission. It didn't help that during the movie every time they said his name it sounded like Peter or something of the sort and he didn't have a hint of German accent. There is just some vague mention of him seeing the planes flying by his house during the war, I thought he was the child of an army officer and he lived on a base, I didn't understand from this that he was a German and these planes were killing his own people.
Also, in the scene where the Vietnamese bloke tries to make him sign some document and Dieter goes on about how wonderful being an American is, I imagine the director wanted us to see how "grateful" he is to America for helping him realise his dream of becoming a pilot, but in reality the viewer who doesn't have the faintiest idea of his background thinks that it's just another loud yank in yet another Vietnam movie. I am also surprised of how grateful he was to the people who flattened his village, full of civilians, just because it was overcast and they couldn't find a proprer militar target. I suppose this comes to show of how war crimes turn into military actions when you are standing with the right crowd.
I thought the movie was great as a Vietnam war movie and it was entertaining, specially because of the good acting, but it's not a good movie about Dieter Dengler as it doesn't really tell his story, it just tells the story of some yank pilot who was either lucky enough or stubborn enough to escape.
Also, I suppose it shows how bad the training was back then. The guys are walking through a bloody rainforest with thousands and thousands of available bits of food at their finger tips and they are starving? Don't they teach them to forage in the army? Not that I would know how to forage in the Vietnam jungle, but then again I wouldn't sign up to shoot people there either.
The scene where Bale was asked to sign a contract so he could be released, Bale clearly said he was German born (or that his parents were German and he was raised in America). And i think there might've been a couple other scenes after that where it's been referenced that he's of German descent but i can't remember which specifically.
sharehis german background was referenced multiple times. listen to the audio of the film as well as watching it.
sharei thought this was a weak movie for many reasons unfortunately...
i felt the entire scene on the carrier before the mission was pathetic...i thought Toby Huss just didn't pull it off as being the funny guy, cowboy american trying to make everyone laugh in the survival training film...and about that, this isn't a joke to these guys..it's a serious business....i was insulted by how w.herzog portrayed the training (or lack thereof)...keep in mind, dieter himself survived 23 days in the jungle..it wasn't because his training was poor, was it?
he'd roll over on his mommy, his daddy, his two panty granny and the *beep* king of siam
"Also, I suppose it shows how bad the training was back then. The guys are walking through a bloody rainforest with thousands and thousands of available bits of food at their finger tips and they are starving? Don't they teach them to forage in the army?"
Pardon me sir,but I am in the Army,this dude was in the AIR FORCE,there's a BIG difference you know?
I dont know too much about the Air force,only the things that the guys I know there tells me,and they have these survival/escape courses,where they put up a mock POW camp,Dieter actually set a new record in this course being the first guy to ever GAIN weigh during an escape course,now I know to pilot an air plane,you have to be an Officer no matter what,and in my experiences Officers tend to slack a little when it comes to refreshing their training,not at all like the Army and infantry enlisted personnel,(now im just a low NCO(E-5/OR-5) but I guess we have 10xtimes better training than any Air Farce officer have)
Regards..
actually, he was a Naval aviator.
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More difficult to understand, why he would even have a passport as a naval officer flying off of an aircraft carrier. During those years, military personnel were not required to have a passport for most foreign travel. Maybe in his case as a naturalized citizen, he got one just because and carried it on a combat mission. Another question in my mind, were pilots on combat missions cleared to take documents of this nature with them that might reveal more than "name, rank & serial number?"
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