Little Dieter Needs To Fly

directed by Werner Herzog

This is a documentary about a man named Dieter Dengler who wanted to fly; a simple premise that overlays the engrossing story of a remarkable man.

He became intoxicated with a desire to fly as a young boy after witnessing his small Bavarian village being bombed during World War II. He later emigrated to American to pursue this dream because it would have never been fulfilled in the shambles that was post bellum Germany.

Soon after finally becoming a pilot he was shot down over Laos and captured during the early stages of the Vietnam War. The heart of the film is the story of a young man who realizes the freedom of the air, only to find himself caged as a prisoner of war, and struggles with the effect this has on his later life.

While little of his personal life is revlieved outside the main line of the story, he emerges as a gentle, thoughtful and determined man. His benign demeanor while relating his harrowing tale of freedom lost and then regained is only broken once or twice, which makes those moments particularly riveting.