This is a great POW movie and really shows how horrific and how psychologically straining it can be if your captors are sadistic or just unstable people. A couple of times things happen and Steve Zahn's (Duane) response would in any other context be hilarious, but as a POW being mistreated it makes a nervous breakdown incredibly heart wrenching. Christian Bale (Dieter Dengler) is great like always, so I won't go into his part, though it reminds me a little bit of when he played Jamie "Jim" Graham the Rich kid in Empire of the Sun. Always ready to go, stubborn and full of FIGHTING SPIRIT. Despite breaking down due to lack of nutrition he ( Dieter ) does remain the more positive one. Jeremy Davies's character (Gene) is very negative and afraid and pretty much wants to play the model prisoner, but also complains to his fellow POWs all the time. Steve Zahn ( Duane ) doesn't get half as much credit for as good an actor as he is. Christian Bale we know and love, but a Steve Zahn plays his part in the movie really well, he really has the ability to show suffering and mental deterioration really well, differently from Christian Bale. Bale's mental deterioration look is more like a person who has dementia and just woke up.
Anyways... Duane is not a leader, he follows and since he was a prisoner with Gene for the most part he just gave up and accepted that he was a prisoner of War for the time being, but when Dieter Dengler ( Christian Bale ) shows up, things start to change in Duane. At first he is scared, wary and totally opposed to anything Dieter brings up, but over time the life in him comes back and well...
I will leave it at that, Enjoy the movie.
Anyways... Duane is not a leader, he follows and since he was a prisoner with Gene for the most part he just gave up and accepted that he was a prisoner of War for the time being, but when Dieter Dengler ( Christian Bale ) shows up, things start to change in Duane. At first he is scared, wary and totally opposed to anything Dieter brings up, but over time the life in him comes back and well...
I will leave it at that, Enjoy the movie.