LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY / BALLAD OF THE LITTLE SOLDIER

ABOUT THE FILMS:

LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLY, 1997, AGFA, 80 min, Germany, Dir: Werner Herzog. 

Growing up in desolated post-WW II Germany, Dieter Dengler — the son of a Nazi slain during the war — dreamed about was becoming a pilot. At age 18, he left his country with only a few cents to his name and emigrated to the U.S. Landing in San Francisco, he worked odd jobs until he was accepted into the Navy and began pilot training. He was sent to Vietnam around 1966 and on his first mission was shot down and taken prisoner. There, the Vietcong tortured and starved him until Dengler engineered a hair-raising escape and eventually returned to the U.S. where his heroic life story was forgotten… until now. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, this documentary from Werner Herzog is divided into four chapters, each representing a period from Dengler’s life; the story is recounted via interviews with the Navy pilot, archival footage and new footage seamlessly spliced together.

FORMAT: DCP

BALLAD OF THE LITTLE SOLDIER, 1984, AGFA, 46 min, Germany, Dir: Werner Herzog. 

In this complex documentary from one of the most iconic voices of the German New Wave, Werner Herzog follows the child soldiers of Nicaragua during the Miskito resistance against the Sandinistas. True to Herzog form, this film ultimately illustrates the futility and senselessness of such violence. Drawing connections to co-director Denis Reichle’s experiences serving as a child soldier towards the end of WWII, BALLAD OF THE LITTLE SOLDIER, rather than making a specific political stance on either side of the resistance in Nicaragua, illustrates the unspeakable horror the use of children in combat presents in conflicts all around the world and throughout history.

FORMAT: DCP