As a young boy, Dieter Dengler watched as Allied planes destroyed his village. From that instant, he knew that he wanted to fly. So at 18, he moved to America, enlisted in the Navy, and was promptly shipped off to Vietnam.
During one of his first missions, however, Dengler was shot down over Laos and taken prisoner. Despite torture and starvation-at one point he weighed 85 pounds-he escaped, and after a harrowing journey through the jungle on foot, returned home. However, even comfort and success cannot dispel the demons of his past.

In this remarkable, award- winning documentary, director Werner Herzog returns to the jungle with Dengler, to tell an incredible tale of courage and survival against impossible odds.