Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)

Overview : Three decades after German-American pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, he returns to the places where he was held prisoner during the early years of the Vietnam War. Accompanied by director Werner Herzog, Dengler describes in unusually candid detail his captivity, the friendships he made, and his daring escape. Not willing to stop there, Herzog even persuades his subject to re-enact certain tortures, with the help of some willing local villagers.

Release Date : December 1, 1997

Runtime : 80m

Genre : Documentary  

Companies : Werner Herzog Filmproduktion, ZDF

Countries : France, Germany, United Kingdom

Keywords : 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