Role Call: Christian Bale

Rescue Dawn (2007)

THE ROLE Dieter Dengler, a U.S. Navy pilot who, in 1966, was shot down and held captive in a Laos jungle prison; after rallying his fellow prisoners, the real-life hero led their narrow escape and rescue.

WHAT EW SAID Lisa Schwarzbaum: ''Bale's surprise in Rescue Dawn is the lightness of being — the modest, good-natured grace — that he locates in Dengler even under the most agonizing conditions. I've never seen the actor look more at home with his own taut charisma, or put his sinewy physicality to more rewarding use.''