Little Dieter Needs to Fly
In 1966, Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, captured, and, down to 85 pounds, escaped.
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? The director would use this subject for the feature film Rescue Dawn (2007).
- Year: 1997
- Country: France, Germany, United Kingdom
- Genre: Documentary
- Studio: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, ZDF
- Keyword: vietnam war, vietnam, vietcong, prisoner of war, u.s. navy, post war germany, struggle for survival, pow escape, life story, torture victim, plane crash, pow, air crash, aircraft crash, survivor memories, navy pilot, german immigrant, jungle survival, pow survivor, downed aircraft
- Director: Werner Herzog
- Cast: Werner Herzog, Dieter Dengler, Eugene Deatrick
