Article source for : 'Based on Truth' movie has local link
Rescue Dawn ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462504/ ) a newly released to video movie is the story of a young pilot shot down and held in a prison camp in Laos - and his eventual escape.
We rented it this weekend (the wife's a huge Christian Bale fan) and since it was touted as 'based on a true story', she went out on line to find out more about the real guys.
What she found was that as usual, "based on a true story" was quite loose, and that the people who put the movie together were more interested in making a sellable movie than hurting the families of the people involved.
Rent the movie - enjoy it for what it is, but then go check out http://www.rescuedawnthetruth.com/
The character named Eugene DeBruin was set up to look like a quitter who was off his rocker - they made him up to look quite like Charles Manson. Worse, they portrayed him as a backstabber who would betray his fellow comrades. Untrue.
If you want to hear the truth, check out that link. Note that one of the authors is one of the actual characters portrayed in the movie. Another (and my reason for writing today) is Jerry DeBruin, brother of the falsely portrayed Eugene, and a faculty member at the University of Toledo.
Again - enjoy the movie. The main character, Deiter Dengler was a hero - that much is true, but bear in mind that so were every one of the other POW's there, including Eugene DeBruin - who's persona was unfairly portrayed in a foul light. His family would appreciate it.
