Little Dieter Needs to Fly, filmed by Werner Herzog in 1997, is a documentary about Dieter Dengler, a German immigrant who moves to the United States, joins the Air Force, and subsequently gets shot down over Laos in 1966. He becomes a prisoner of war, and a great portion of Herzog's film deals with the atrocities Dengler suffers at the hands of his captors. Realizing that he will die if he doesn't liberate himself, Dengler escapes, only to discover that the jungle is perhaps worse than incarceration. What surprises me about Dengler more than anything is his ability to remain upbeat while telling the most horrific stories. It boggles the mind, hearing him jauntily recall the time he had bamboo shoots inserted under his fingernails and into the veins of his arms.

I do have two minor complaints about the documentary: 1) The story ends too abruptly. I felt like it needed a more satisfying resolution. 2) Werner Herzog and Dieter Dengler sound almost identical, making some of the voice-over shots confusing. Anyway, Herzog would use Dengler's story as inspiration for the film Rescue Dawn in 2006.