Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)

The great entry point to Herzog's people films. Dieter Dengler, a German-born US Navy pilot, crash-landed his Skyraider in Laos in 1966, was held in a prisoner camp, escaped and was eventually spotted and rescued. Herzog takes him back to Southeast Asia and has him retrace his steps, with hired locals playing his captors. Dengler is a wonderful storyteller, cheerful and unflinching at once, and Herzog plainly sees a kindred spirit. If you love it, Rescue Dawn, Herzog's later drama with Christian Bale, tells the same story as fiction.