Eric Stoltz plays John Dantley, an NTSB officer sent to O'Hare Airport in Chicago to investigate a collision between Global Airlines Flight 1025 (a Boeing 757-200 from Los Angeles to Washington D.C.) and PDO Cargo flight 342 (a Boeing 727-200F flying westbound cargo plane).
In April 1942, after a raid on Japan, eight American aircrew made up of the crews from two North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, are captured. Capt. Harvey Ross (Dana Andrews), becomes the leader of the captives. Initially, the men are picked up by a local government official who is a Chinese collaborator in a Wang Jingwei controlled section of China. The Chinese official delivers the Americans to the Imperial Japanese Army to be put on trial at the Shanghai Police Headquarters. Although international observers and correspondents are allowed to witness the trial, the commanding officer, General Mitsubi (Richard Loo) refuses to allow Karl Kappel (Torben Meyer), the Swiss Consul to contact Washington.
Werner Herzog retourne dans la forêt équatoriale sud-américaine avec Juliane Koepcke, la femme allemande unique survivante d'un accident d'avion survenu le 24 décembre 1971 et qui a causé la mort de 91 personnes.
The film starts with a brief pre-title clip from presenter Greg Palast’s aborted interview with Florida Director of Elections Clayton Roberts, who walks out.
The film follows with the journey of the Pakistani rock star Salman Ahmad, a US citizen of Pakistani origin, asks fellow Muslims what it’s like to be Muslim in post-9/11 America.