I finally found time tonight to watch one of those films, and I cheated a bit by picking a film which I had heard many, many good things about, Little Dieter Needs to Fly. To say I was not disappointed would be a massive understatement.
I’m tempted to stop right there, command “See it!” and let you discover the film for yourself. But that would be rude, and difficult for someone of my loquaciousness. But I will try to avoid forcing an interpretation on the film.
In 1966, Dieter Dengler, a German immigrant, was shot down over Laos two hours into his first-ever mission as a Navy pilot. Six months later, he was rescued, the only man of 7 to survive an escape from a POW camp. In 1997, Herzog approached Dengler about telling his story. To do this, Dengler visited his Black Forest home village, and the Asian jungles where he had been captured and tortured.
The film is not the story of Dengler’s life or his experiences though, but his character. He has clearly been affected by the events of 1966, obsessing on open doors and large spaces, but is curiously unscarred. Even as he describes the horrible acts he witnessed and underwent, he seems neither angry nor tearful, but simply accepting and matter-of-fact. This is clearly not a facade; but there are moments when even he seems surprised by what memories bubble up to haunt him…
…but I’ve said too much.
I feel that calling this the best documentary I’ve seen is laughably insufficient. I was tempted to call it the best film I’ve seen this year, but I can’t be certain – maybe I watched Ran in January or something, and just forgot about it. But the mere fact that I can entertain such a thought will hopefully drive at least one person to seek it out. Truth may or may not be stranger than fiction, but in this case it’s a hell of a lot more compelling.
10/10