A Welsh childhood never stood in the way of Richard Burton inhabiting a wide range of American roles, nor has it had any inhibiting impact on the very American trajectory of Christian Bale's career. This, despite his having made a spectacular film debut in Steven Spielberg's masterwork "Empire of the Sun," playing the most English of English boys imaginable. Bale's character in that film, Jim Graham, is a spiritual cousin to .
Die.ter Dengler, the German-emigre pilot he plays in Werner Herzog's "Rescue Dawn." As boys living through World War II, they both become obsessed with a determination to fly.
And, when thrown into dire circumstances, they each demonstrate the cunning and seat-of-the-pants wits that define a survivor.
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