Wings of Hope is a 2000 made for TV documentary directed by Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...

. The film explores the story of Juliane Koepcke, a German woman who was the sole survivor of plane crash of Peruvian flight LANSA Flight 508

LANSA Flight 508

LANSA Flight 508 was a Lockheed L-188A Electra turboprop, registered OB-R-941, operated as a scheduled domestic passenger flight by Lineas Aéreas Nacionales Sociedad Anonima , that crashed in a thunderstorm en route from Lima, Peru to Pucallpa, Peru, on December 24, 1971, killing 91 people –...

 in 1971. Herzog was inspired to make this film as he narrowly avoided taking the same flight while he was location scouting

Location scouting

Location scouting is a vital process in the pre-production stage of filmmaking and commercial photography. Once scriptwriters, producers or directors have decided what general kind of scenery they require for the various parts of their work that is shot outside of the studio, the search for a...

 for Aguirre, Wrath of God. His reservation was canceled due to a last minute change in itinerary.

In the film, Herzog and Koepcke visit the scenes of her flight, crash, and escape from the jungle. They take a flight from Lima

Lima

Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

 to Pucallpa

Pucallpa

Pucallpa is a city in eastern Peru located on the banks of the Ucayali River, a major tributary of the Amazon River. It is the capital of the Ucayali region, the Coronel Portillo Province and the Calleria District....

 (though with a different airline), and sit in the same row of seats where Koepcke sat during the crash. They unearth many large fragments of the plane in the jungle, and then visit the river routes where she traveled for 10 days on foot, and the small village where she was eventually found by three men, one of whom appears in the film.

Wings of Hope is often seen as a companion piece or sequel to Herzog's 1997 film Little Dieter Needs to Fly

Little Dieter Needs to Fly

Little Dieter Needs to Fly is a 1997 documentary film made for German television, written and directed by Werner Herzog, produced by Werner Herzog Filmproduktion. The film was released to DVD in 1998 by Anchor Bay.-Summary:...

, in which he retraces the steps of a German/American Navy pilot's successful escape from a POW camp during the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

.

Production

Herzog had planned to make the film ever since narrowly missing the flight, but was unable to contact Koepcke for many years, as she typically shied away from any media coverage. Herzog finally located her in Munich after contacting the priest who performed the funeral for Koepcke's mother. Koepcke's dreams, as described in the film and shot in documentary style, were invented and scripted by Herzog.