I saw this movie on public Greek TV (original version with subtitles), and was glued to the screen until the very end. I would say that it develops in three modes. One is the horrible black and white present, one is the colorful past (memory) and one is the surreal world of Johnny's dreams where he is conscious of his injury! I haven't understood how the scenes with his father in the past add up to the movie very well. The acting isn't superb and some lines could have been different. The black and white cinematography is very convincing and the scenes with the last nurse are tremendous! Aside from the downsides of war which are evident, the movie also deals with how the system is willing to suppress its own fabricated heroes when they fall short of its ideology. One of the best Hollywood movies ever made, chiefly due to its powerful script. 8/10
107 Reviews
A fate worse than death
lazylaurablue10 September 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Johnny awakes in a hospital to gradually find that he has lost his limbs and most of his sensory organs. He is being kept alive in a bizarre experiment to see just how long a torso can live in sensory deprivation. The doctors are convinced he has no real feeling, but he has dreams and memories and slowly pieces together what has happened to him. In his desperation he finds a way to communicate with a young nurse who cares for him and though she has been told he has no feeling; she finds otherwise, and tries to make the doctors aware. Johnny wants the world to know what has happened to him, what the war has done to him. Will they heed his plea or will they leave him in the living nightmare of isolation? This may be, on the surface, an anti war film, but underlying it all is a deep anti-establishment theme, for it is the politicians, the establishment who don't want to recognise this young man as a real person with feelings. He has no arms, you see, no eyes, no ears. His plight could not have been worse if he had dark skin or lacked external genitalia. He is a symbol of the ignorance of the establishment and though there is a possibility this story could be literally true, it is equally possible that Johnny could represent every single one of us, trapped in a place where we do not want to be, and no-one will listen...
LLB
LLB
Turned Me Into a Pacifist
jdadmun2 May 2005
I became an instant pacifist when I saw this movie at the age of 16. Prior to this, I had been a supporter of the war in Vietnam, and had fully intended to enlist when I was old enough. My father, a veteran of WW2 and Korea, took me to see this movie when it was first released, to help cure me of my delusion about the glory of war. He was very successful in that undertaking. While I haven't seen the movie in 34 years, I cannot deny it had a major influence on my life. I'll never forget the horror I felt in seeing that poor soldier trapped in his mind. I would strongly recommend telling anyone who is pro-war to see this movie. You may help turn on others to the horrors of war.
Maybe the most effective movie I've ever seen
sideburnmikeguitar13 July 2007
Let me say that I would NOT recommend this to anyone lightly. I feel quite confident saying that there are very few people I know who I think should see it.
It's all about the horror of war. The setting is WWI and involves a very young man, boy really, who has no appendages because of a grenade. The rest of the moving cuts between his horrific vegetative physical state with voice-overs of his thoughts and flashbacks to his rather limited life experiences and a few fantasies or inner monologues.
This was really a soul-shattering movie in a lot of ways. After watching it I couldn't get it out of my head for hours after hours. I couldn't' get to sleep until mid way through the next day. It is just relentlessly brutal in giving detail of true internal psychological torture, seeing a wasted life sacrificed.
I didn't read the book, which I've been told is even more dramatic than the film. I honestly can't imagine that. I don't think I could read the book. Parts of it make me think of "All Quiet on the Western Front" but in far more isolated ways. There's no glory here.
Donald Sutherland's Christ is a fascinating character and compelling. Joe's flashbacks are all meaningful and relate to the "big questions" he's trying to sort out that only seem to provide answer that torture him even more. The scene with his girlfriend early in the movie when the old man says "don't make a whore out of her" is profound in its delivery.
It is fairly artistic in a very dark sense. It's too heavy for some people. They will claim it was boring but that is only for those who have no understanding of the weight of the matters because it doesn't involve them. Make no mistake, this sort of thing goes on every day as there are wars every day.
I'm all about defending and fighting for personal rights, but if this movie were shown in every public school in the world there would be far fewer people willing to fight for the causes of others and the promise of a few more dollars.
I've never seen a movie that moved me so much but in such a sad way. It was perfect in its execution, but then again some lessons are better left unlearned.
It's all about the horror of war. The setting is WWI and involves a very young man, boy really, who has no appendages because of a grenade. The rest of the moving cuts between his horrific vegetative physical state with voice-overs of his thoughts and flashbacks to his rather limited life experiences and a few fantasies or inner monologues.
This was really a soul-shattering movie in a lot of ways. After watching it I couldn't get it out of my head for hours after hours. I couldn't' get to sleep until mid way through the next day. It is just relentlessly brutal in giving detail of true internal psychological torture, seeing a wasted life sacrificed.
I didn't read the book, which I've been told is even more dramatic than the film. I honestly can't imagine that. I don't think I could read the book. Parts of it make me think of "All Quiet on the Western Front" but in far more isolated ways. There's no glory here.
Donald Sutherland's Christ is a fascinating character and compelling. Joe's flashbacks are all meaningful and relate to the "big questions" he's trying to sort out that only seem to provide answer that torture him even more. The scene with his girlfriend early in the movie when the old man says "don't make a whore out of her" is profound in its delivery.
It is fairly artistic in a very dark sense. It's too heavy for some people. They will claim it was boring but that is only for those who have no understanding of the weight of the matters because it doesn't involve them. Make no mistake, this sort of thing goes on every day as there are wars every day.
I'm all about defending and fighting for personal rights, but if this movie were shown in every public school in the world there would be far fewer people willing to fight for the causes of others and the promise of a few more dollars.
I've never seen a movie that moved me so much but in such a sad way. It was perfect in its execution, but then again some lessons are better left unlearned.
One of the finest uses of motion picture film I have ever seen.
bsnstatprof3 July 2006
Johnny Got His Gun is a motion picture based on a 1938 anti-war book that used World War I as the setting. It should be noted that Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976), author of the book and director of the movie was a brilliant Hollywood screenwriter who also wrote the scripts for several Academy Award winning movies such as Exodus, Roman Holiday, Spartacus and The Brave One. He was one of the big 10 blacklisted in the 1940s by Hollywood and essentially forced to move to Mexico. He had joined the Communist party in 1943, thinking that it was all about caring for fellow human beings and ensuring that working people are paid fairly rather than being turned into semi-slaves. He was not terribly interested in the political agenda of the American Communist Party and dropped it in the mid 1940s to instead put his efforts into unionization. However, during the McCarthy era, the fact that he really had little to do with communism didn't matter. He was targeted by McCarthy, and imprisoned for a year for standing on his 5th Amendment rights by refusing to testify before McCarthy's committee. One must wonder if this book had something to do with why he was targeted in that immediate post WWII, rabidly pro-war and anti-communist culture.
This film is graced by several stars and minor players who were relative unknowns in 1971 when the film was released. They included not only Southerland, but also Timothy Bottoms, Tom Tryon, and David Soul. Additionally, some pretty well known actors such as Alice Nunn, Marsha Hunt, and Jason Robards had parts in the film. These excellent actors brought their considerable skills to what was essentially a low-budget anti-war film made and released during the Vietnam war. Strangely (at least to me), the movie wasn't a hit with the anti-war crowd during the very early 1970s--perhaps because the depiction of the terrible injuries suffered by the protagonist were just too real to those threatened with being drafted.
This is clearly an anti-war film because it shows the horror of war in the person of Johnny Bonham, a soldier whose body was blown apart by an explosive. All Johnny was left with was a horribly damaged body--essentially just a head and torso. He was left with none of the physical senses humans use to communicating with other people no eyes, ears or tongue. In the normal course of events, doctors would have let him die of his horrific injuries. However, in this case they used him as an experiment to see how well/long they could keep an essentially "dead" body alive. The doctors assumed his injuries were such that he had no consciousness and no ability to suffer. How wrong they were! In a surrealistic format, the film goes back and forth from a black and white present, to a color past showing Johnny's memories, and back to the present in which Johnny has discussions with Jesus Christ (played by a young Donald Southerland).
To this viewer, it was the beauty of human compassion demonstrated first by a nurse supervisor and later by the young nurse who cared for Johnny that resonated. When we first see Johnny as a patient, he is "stored" in what looks like some kind of utility room, with no light, no air, and no human contact other than the minimum necessary to provide physical care. The nursing supervisor (sort of a battle-Axel type) comes in and demands that the window be opened so he can have the light and sun on his face and some fresh air. When the other nurses start to protest that he won't feel these things, she shuts them up with a words to the effect that she would not stand for treating any patient with less than excellent nursing care. (Being a nurse myself, I recognized immediately the nursing standards she was demanding although her words would probably not be understood in that context by a non-nurse). That brusk nurse supervisor's demand that even this terribly disabled person be treated with respect and concern was a tiny, but powerful scene in the movie, because it communicated the essential worth of all people, no matter their station or condition.
Later young nurse gives Johnny sensitive and kind care to, even though she has no idea that he has any mental awareness. The brilliance of her caring for even this, the least of patients, shows what human beneficence should be in this world. And it showed especially what being a nurse should mean. To me, the many shades and colors of human feeling for other people, and the importance of human caring--even under the most drastic of circumstances, was a key element of this film. To that extent, the message of about how humans should and should not view and interact with each other was even more powerful than the anti-war message.
I would recommend that anyone who can see this film treat themselves to a truly amazing experience. I've only seen it twice, and saw much more in the film the second time than I saw the first time. My guess is that if I obtain the DVD and see it several more times, additional layers of meaning will emerge. The film is that deep and that complex in its many forms and shades of meaning.
This film is graced by several stars and minor players who were relative unknowns in 1971 when the film was released. They included not only Southerland, but also Timothy Bottoms, Tom Tryon, and David Soul. Additionally, some pretty well known actors such as Alice Nunn, Marsha Hunt, and Jason Robards had parts in the film. These excellent actors brought their considerable skills to what was essentially a low-budget anti-war film made and released during the Vietnam war. Strangely (at least to me), the movie wasn't a hit with the anti-war crowd during the very early 1970s--perhaps because the depiction of the terrible injuries suffered by the protagonist were just too real to those threatened with being drafted.
This is clearly an anti-war film because it shows the horror of war in the person of Johnny Bonham, a soldier whose body was blown apart by an explosive. All Johnny was left with was a horribly damaged body--essentially just a head and torso. He was left with none of the physical senses humans use to communicating with other people no eyes, ears or tongue. In the normal course of events, doctors would have let him die of his horrific injuries. However, in this case they used him as an experiment to see how well/long they could keep an essentially "dead" body alive. The doctors assumed his injuries were such that he had no consciousness and no ability to suffer. How wrong they were! In a surrealistic format, the film goes back and forth from a black and white present, to a color past showing Johnny's memories, and back to the present in which Johnny has discussions with Jesus Christ (played by a young Donald Southerland).
To this viewer, it was the beauty of human compassion demonstrated first by a nurse supervisor and later by the young nurse who cared for Johnny that resonated. When we first see Johnny as a patient, he is "stored" in what looks like some kind of utility room, with no light, no air, and no human contact other than the minimum necessary to provide physical care. The nursing supervisor (sort of a battle-Axel type) comes in and demands that the window be opened so he can have the light and sun on his face and some fresh air. When the other nurses start to protest that he won't feel these things, she shuts them up with a words to the effect that she would not stand for treating any patient with less than excellent nursing care. (Being a nurse myself, I recognized immediately the nursing standards she was demanding although her words would probably not be understood in that context by a non-nurse). That brusk nurse supervisor's demand that even this terribly disabled person be treated with respect and concern was a tiny, but powerful scene in the movie, because it communicated the essential worth of all people, no matter their station or condition.
Later young nurse gives Johnny sensitive and kind care to, even though she has no idea that he has any mental awareness. The brilliance of her caring for even this, the least of patients, shows what human beneficence should be in this world. And it showed especially what being a nurse should mean. To me, the many shades and colors of human feeling for other people, and the importance of human caring--even under the most drastic of circumstances, was a key element of this film. To that extent, the message of about how humans should and should not view and interact with each other was even more powerful than the anti-war message.
I would recommend that anyone who can see this film treat themselves to a truly amazing experience. I've only seen it twice, and saw much more in the film the second time than I saw the first time. My guess is that if I obtain the DVD and see it several more times, additional layers of meaning will emerge. The film is that deep and that complex in its many forms and shades of meaning.
Mind blowing and original
chrisdee-230 April 1999
One of cinema's greatest achievements. The film is an incredible experience. The fact that you spend almost two hours watching the figure of someone buried under sheets and that we are intrigued by every second of it, testifies to the genius of the film. It's sad that most people remember this movie as the one Metallica made a video for. No offense to the band, but this JGHG is far more important than that. Dalton Trumbo's only directorial effort and it is flawless. The majority of the film is told in a voiceover and like "Twelve Angry Men" every thing takes place in one room. Prepare to be amazed.
an earth shaking, unparalleled movie that shocks and horrifies
reasonbran23426 October 2001
This is the most disturbing movie I've ever seen. Beyond a doubt, the reason it is so obscure has nothing to do with its quality or relevance, but with the fact that it is too penetrating for the majority to handle. This is the cinematic equivalent of a punch in the face or a kick in the stomach. When I was about 12 or 13 I first saw the Metallica video "One", and I couldn't stop obsessing about it for days because it upset me so much. Anyone with an ounce of sensitivity will be knocked off their feet by this film. We watch a naive, well to do young man go to a war he doesn't understand in the slightest, and we also watch while he is brutally destroyed by a bomb. Trumbo has no pretensions to optimism or happy endings or anything of the kind; this healthy young man is turned into a pathetic, hideous hunk of flesh by a three second explosion that simply happened to occur, with no logic or reason to it. We hear his almost unendurable cries for his mother and his frantic desire to die as he realizes what he has been reduced to, a formless mass of flesh with no capacity for communication or real awareness left, and certainly no ability to enjoy anything. This is the first and only movie that has made me want to cry or leave the room in a hurry, and I've been a horror movie buff since age 11. This remorselessly tears right into the viewer not for the sake of tearing, but to prove a point. Just imagining yourself in this young man's position is enough to sink you into a fearful depression. Trumbo is outraged that we let this kind of thing occur at all any under circumstance, for whatever reason, and understandably shoves our faces into the real results of our passivity and complacency, shattering all our ridiculous fictions about the 'glory' or 'honor' of war. I think this should be required reading in high school, although extrasensitive people with depressive or morbid tendencies (like myself)should probably keep clear of it while still being strongly warned off the military or involvement in any kind of war. To me Dalton Trumbo epitomizes the genuinely anti establishment individual,not wanting to appear angry or discontented because it is stylish or in vogue, but being angry and discontented because unlike the rest of us he knows the true state of things and how deceptive our happy go lucky society really is. There are scenes in this movie that will be stamped on my psyche forever, and unpleasantly stamped at that. It is beyond my comprehension that any of the reviewers on this page could find this movie to be 'disappointing' or mediocre or whatever. I feel really bad for anyone who comes away from this movie without feeling anything. They should seriously cut themselves to see if they are robots or something. As you might have guessed, I am recommending it but at the same time warn anyone who watches that they will not be able to forget it or feel light hearted for a good chunk of time after viewing this film.
Brilliant premise, somewhat mixed execution
DragoonKain27 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Let me preface this by saying I have not read the book but I definitely want to after seeing this very thought provoking film.
Like many of you, I first heard about this movie from Metallica's video of their song, One. It's essentially the story of a young WWI soldier, Joe, who loses his limbs, his face, and all of his senses except for touch. But his mind is completely intact, yet trapped in his completely broken body. When I first heard about the movie, it seemed incredibly disturbing, and it definitely peaked my interest in seeing the film. But I never got around to actually seeing it until recently. And now that I've seen it, I'm very glad I have.
The movie wasn't as disturbing as I thought it would be. Perhaps, had I seen this when I was younger, and more fearful of the losses he had suffered, I would have been horrified. But, as we age and are increasingly exposed to such tragedies and losses, our sensibilities numb somewhat, and we become more accepting of our own mortality and frailty. This movie is also somewhat comforting in that it makes ones own problems seem trivial by comparison. We often forget that things could always be worse. And Joe's situation seems to be about as bad as it good get. Nevertheless, he does his best to deal with it as best he can, which is also strangely comforting.
Another reason why this movie didn't feel as depressing or disturbing as I thought was because the acting wasn't that great. There were times when I literally laughed out loud during some of the more emotional scenes simply because the delivery was off. The movie felt quite amateurish at times. There were also times when the film got a little too preachy. It often tries to force its pacifist views on the viewer a little too obviously, particularly in the way it portrays the military commanders as heartless buffoons with no redeeming qualities. Still, the movie did seem to get better as it went on and there were enough great moments in this movie to make it worthwhile.
Probably my favorite aspect of the film was in the way it explored the themes of reality vs. dreaming. Because Joe is unable to communicate for much of the film, he creates a world for himself, mostly of memories, and of dreams, and of strange moments that have stuck with him. In his head, he often converses with his old girlfriend, a somewhat incompetent Jesus, and his father in order to get advice on how to deal with his situation. None are able to really provide good advice, reinforcing the fact that his situation is truly hopeless, but the things they talk about are often very thought provoking and deep on an almost existentialist level.
Jesus, in particular, helps him to see that he is perhaps better off living for his dreams rather than for his real life, since his real life is more like a nightmare, and his dreams often give him hope and comfort. In a memorable conversation with his girlfriend, he questions what is real, and what time is. Since all he has is his memories and is no longer able to experience anything worthy of memory, does he really age? Will he ever forget anything since there are very few new memories to replace the old? In a way, he's frozen in time, and keeping track of time becomes one of his goals early on.
All in all, this leads me to believe that the source material from which this film was made is probably much better than the film, and probably much deeper than just a simple pacifist's message. Check this film out if you get the opportunity, it will certainly make you think, and it's actually not as morbidly depressing and disturbing as you might think.
Like many of you, I first heard about this movie from Metallica's video of their song, One. It's essentially the story of a young WWI soldier, Joe, who loses his limbs, his face, and all of his senses except for touch. But his mind is completely intact, yet trapped in his completely broken body. When I first heard about the movie, it seemed incredibly disturbing, and it definitely peaked my interest in seeing the film. But I never got around to actually seeing it until recently. And now that I've seen it, I'm very glad I have.
The movie wasn't as disturbing as I thought it would be. Perhaps, had I seen this when I was younger, and more fearful of the losses he had suffered, I would have been horrified. But, as we age and are increasingly exposed to such tragedies and losses, our sensibilities numb somewhat, and we become more accepting of our own mortality and frailty. This movie is also somewhat comforting in that it makes ones own problems seem trivial by comparison. We often forget that things could always be worse. And Joe's situation seems to be about as bad as it good get. Nevertheless, he does his best to deal with it as best he can, which is also strangely comforting.
Another reason why this movie didn't feel as depressing or disturbing as I thought was because the acting wasn't that great. There were times when I literally laughed out loud during some of the more emotional scenes simply because the delivery was off. The movie felt quite amateurish at times. There were also times when the film got a little too preachy. It often tries to force its pacifist views on the viewer a little too obviously, particularly in the way it portrays the military commanders as heartless buffoons with no redeeming qualities. Still, the movie did seem to get better as it went on and there were enough great moments in this movie to make it worthwhile.
Probably my favorite aspect of the film was in the way it explored the themes of reality vs. dreaming. Because Joe is unable to communicate for much of the film, he creates a world for himself, mostly of memories, and of dreams, and of strange moments that have stuck with him. In his head, he often converses with his old girlfriend, a somewhat incompetent Jesus, and his father in order to get advice on how to deal with his situation. None are able to really provide good advice, reinforcing the fact that his situation is truly hopeless, but the things they talk about are often very thought provoking and deep on an almost existentialist level.
Jesus, in particular, helps him to see that he is perhaps better off living for his dreams rather than for his real life, since his real life is more like a nightmare, and his dreams often give him hope and comfort. In a memorable conversation with his girlfriend, he questions what is real, and what time is. Since all he has is his memories and is no longer able to experience anything worthy of memory, does he really age? Will he ever forget anything since there are very few new memories to replace the old? In a way, he's frozen in time, and keeping track of time becomes one of his goals early on.
All in all, this leads me to believe that the source material from which this film was made is probably much better than the film, and probably much deeper than just a simple pacifist's message. Check this film out if you get the opportunity, it will certainly make you think, and it's actually not as morbidly depressing and disturbing as you might think.
The Futility of War...
Xstal6 July 2020
A quadriplegic, who also lost most of his face from a WW1 bomb during that conflict, leaves us under no illusion of the futility of war and the insanity of those who lead us into them. As impacting a film as you're ever likely to see.
Weird Story, Even Weirder Author
aramis-112-8048803 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Dalton Trumbo was a peculiar fellow. He wrote his powerful anti-war classic JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN in 1938, as Hitler neared the height of his power. It was published the next year, as storm clouds brewed over Europe. The novel was no doubt set during the Great War because it's the only one he knew.
Also as the novel was published and reaching shelves Hitler and Stalin made their infamous Pact and as the two great behemoth autocratic, murdering dictatorships joined hands across a Europe destined to feel their brunt, Trumbo remained a peacenik; so long as his beloved USSR and Stalin were pals with Der fuhrer, the guy with the funny mustache must not be so bad. Besides, Stalin was way ahead in the great dictator mustache race of the 1930s.
Of course, When many USSR archives opened up we learned Hitler and Stalin were in a race to betray each other. And, with German efficiency, the won.
This peeved Trumbo no end. He became so fervently pro-war, as the world lurched deeper and ever deeper into the biggest war of all, when the US joined in (over the objections of those who, like Trumbo, remembered the horrors of the Great War and didn't want to be sucked into another European cataclysm, with concomitant loss of American life--then and now written off airily as "isolationists") Trumbo eager-beaverly reported anyone he perceived as anti-war to the FBI and other organizations. He was a big informer.
Trumbo was a two-way hypocrite and a weasely snitch, but I contend the quality of an artwork must no be judged by the character of the artist. And JOHNNY as a novel and a film are amazingly powerful statements against war (albeit against Hitler).
Set in World War 1, or as Trumbo would have known it, the "Great War," (since,agains, it was written in the 1930s with Hitler on the rise), it concerns a chap named Johnny whose arms and legs and lips are blown off, but who communicates by banging his head in Morse Code (as if Trumbo is channeling the later John McCain, a man who was praised by more people who didn't vote for him than any man I can recall).
Since Johnny isn't an active hero, he lives a lot in dreams, the most vivid being a cross-maker (the always watchable Donald Sutherland).
If the stars seem low it doesn't reflect on the quality of the movie-making but the difficulty in watching.
Also as the novel was published and reaching shelves Hitler and Stalin made their infamous Pact and as the two great behemoth autocratic, murdering dictatorships joined hands across a Europe destined to feel their brunt, Trumbo remained a peacenik; so long as his beloved USSR and Stalin were pals with Der fuhrer, the guy with the funny mustache must not be so bad. Besides, Stalin was way ahead in the great dictator mustache race of the 1930s.
Of course, When many USSR archives opened up we learned Hitler and Stalin were in a race to betray each other. And, with German efficiency, the won.
This peeved Trumbo no end. He became so fervently pro-war, as the world lurched deeper and ever deeper into the biggest war of all, when the US joined in (over the objections of those who, like Trumbo, remembered the horrors of the Great War and didn't want to be sucked into another European cataclysm, with concomitant loss of American life--then and now written off airily as "isolationists") Trumbo eager-beaverly reported anyone he perceived as anti-war to the FBI and other organizations. He was a big informer.
Trumbo was a two-way hypocrite and a weasely snitch, but I contend the quality of an artwork must no be judged by the character of the artist. And JOHNNY as a novel and a film are amazingly powerful statements against war (albeit against Hitler).
Set in World War 1, or as Trumbo would have known it, the "Great War," (since,agains, it was written in the 1930s with Hitler on the rise), it concerns a chap named Johnny whose arms and legs and lips are blown off, but who communicates by banging his head in Morse Code (as if Trumbo is channeling the later John McCain, a man who was praised by more people who didn't vote for him than any man I can recall).
Since Johnny isn't an active hero, he lives a lot in dreams, the most vivid being a cross-maker (the always watchable Donald Sutherland).
If the stars seem low it doesn't reflect on the quality of the movie-making but the difficulty in watching.
It's been a long time...
gvf4 June 2006
...since a film has actually moved me quite like this. I had read about half of Dalton Trumbo's original novel before seeing the film. The book is sort of difficult to read, but the movie is one big revelation. It may be because Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay for it and directed his own original brainchild that this film is so incredibly dense and gripping.
Much has been said about the plot and storyline, so I won't get on that here. The bottom line is, this movie is as original and authentic today as in 1971 when it was made (Vietnam war era, no less!), or even as in 1939 (at the eve of WW II!), the year the novel first appeared on bookshelves. A timeless classic if there ever was one, and a glowing testimony to the eternal insanity of war. Oftentimes subtle and subversive, its dialogs fully expose the madness of the whole concept of it. But it doesn't stop there, the film also examines the conflict between religion and war and the absurdity that ensues from justifying bloodshed through creed.
I could go on forever trying to explain here why this movie is such a masterpiece to me, but maybe it's enough to tell whoever will read this to go buy the DVD. Like I said, it's a timeless anti-war classic that's worth every cent.
Much has been said about the plot and storyline, so I won't get on that here. The bottom line is, this movie is as original and authentic today as in 1971 when it was made (Vietnam war era, no less!), or even as in 1939 (at the eve of WW II!), the year the novel first appeared on bookshelves. A timeless classic if there ever was one, and a glowing testimony to the eternal insanity of war. Oftentimes subtle and subversive, its dialogs fully expose the madness of the whole concept of it. But it doesn't stop there, the film also examines the conflict between religion and war and the absurdity that ensues from justifying bloodshed through creed.
I could go on forever trying to explain here why this movie is such a masterpiece to me, but maybe it's enough to tell whoever will read this to go buy the DVD. Like I said, it's a timeless anti-war classic that's worth every cent.
Bleak film about a soldier really wounded with effective fantasy sequences in a series of flashbacks
ma-cortes28 May 2010
This wrenching tale about a basket case in which a young American soldier named Johnny -Timothy Bottoms - is hit by a bomb on the last days of the WWI . The story takes place in the mind of a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. As the deaf and dumb Joe is limbless , faceless and confined to a semi-existence and he attempts to communicate with the staff -Edward Franz- and caretakers . Regaining consciousness, 20 and some year-old Joe Bonham slowly learns that while his brain is healthy and able to reason, the rest of his body is irreparably shattered, leaving him forever tied within the confines of his own imagination. Regarded as a vegetable and stuck in a light-less hospital utility room , he fantasizes and dreams about life before and after the artillery shell . He struggles valiantly to find some way to communicate with the outside world . Tapping his head on the pillow in Morse code he breaks through and pleads with his nurse -Diane Varsi- to be put on display as a living example of the cost of war.
The black-listed Trumbo adapted his own novel, seemingly unfilmable , incredibly based on real events , approximately thirty years after he wrote it and shot at the climax of the Vietnam era . The picture is often sentimental, sometimes thought-provoking as well as terrifying . It is developed through a sustained interior monologue on a series of flashbacks to Johnny's infancy , his first and only night with his love interest -performed by Kathy Fields- , before leaving for the front , his employment in the local bakery and his relationship to his father- Jason Robards- and Christ well played by Donad Sutherland , including some breathtaking images in a train. The flick terminates captioning the following : ¨ War dead since 1914 : over 80.000.000 , missing or mutilated : over 150.000.000¨ . ¨ Dulce et decorum est pro Patria Mori ¨. The movie deservedly won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes 71 . This morbid anti-war and pro-euthanasia diatribe is very good film though a little bit boring , talky and depressing. It's recently remade (2008) in a special version by Rowan Joseph with Ben MacKenzie as Johnny .
The black-listed Trumbo adapted his own novel, seemingly unfilmable , incredibly based on real events , approximately thirty years after he wrote it and shot at the climax of the Vietnam era . The picture is often sentimental, sometimes thought-provoking as well as terrifying . It is developed through a sustained interior monologue on a series of flashbacks to Johnny's infancy , his first and only night with his love interest -performed by Kathy Fields- , before leaving for the front , his employment in the local bakery and his relationship to his father- Jason Robards- and Christ well played by Donad Sutherland , including some breathtaking images in a train. The flick terminates captioning the following : ¨ War dead since 1914 : over 80.000.000 , missing or mutilated : over 150.000.000¨ . ¨ Dulce et decorum est pro Patria Mori ¨. The movie deservedly won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes 71 . This morbid anti-war and pro-euthanasia diatribe is very good film though a little bit boring , talky and depressing. It's recently remade (2008) in a special version by Rowan Joseph with Ben MacKenzie as Johnny .
How a writer can destroy his own masterpiece.....
folkloro20 September 1999
Some years ago I read "Johnny Got His Gun"and it changed my life and the way of my thinking.A perfect book with a unique subject and very interesting from the first page until the last. So when I decided to see the movie,I thought that I would see something incredible.But I was completely wrong. The excellent writer Dalton Trumpo proved himself as a totally untalented director.Not even a 10 percent of the meaning of the book,someone can see.The actors were extremely bad,especially Timothy Bottoms whose performance was rather ridiculous. Its a pity that someone else didn't have the chance to make it a masterpiece, as the book is.
An Astonishing Picture!
MovieMan-11227 December 1999
Warning: Spoilers
Imagine what it would be like to live the rest of your life without your arms, legs, eyes, teeth, tongue, and not being able to see or hear anything at all. Johnny Got His Gun is a moving and extremely emotional film that you will never forget. It's an emotional journey through one man's life during the first world war who is unable to communicate with anyone after he was barely killed in action. It's not until years later when one nurse has the courage to try and speak to him by writing on his chest with her finger. The scene where she first connects to him by writing "Merry Christmas" on his chest is heartbreaking. The scenes of emotional fantasy are disturbing as well as sensational. Acting is superb and the ending is a perfect example of why "mercy killing" is the right thing to do. A true classic!
"S.O.S. Help me"
nickenchuggets7 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is a strong contender for the most disturbing movie I ever watched. It's an established fact that war movies do typically have disturbing imagery in them, but for me, this one makes you panic the more you think about it. It deserves to be called distressing. Based on a book written in 1939 with the same title, Johnny Got His Gun is a world war 1 film directed and written by Dalton Trumbo which involves Joe Bonham (Timothy Bottoms) fighting on the western front against the germans during the last months of the war. While retreating under savage fire one day, he hears the telltale whistle of a high explosive artillery shell whizzing in from above and takes cover in a mud crater. The shell lands practically on top of him, but he somehow survives. However, the state of his injuries are so horrific and dire they have him wishing that he didn't. All of Joe's limbs are cut off, as well as his nose, mouth and ears. He also has some strange structure of bandages over his eyes which he can't remove, so he essentially has no senses at all. He can't see, hear, taste, smell or do absolutely anything keep himself occupied. He doesn't even know if he's alive or dead. Despite this, his mind is still free, and it is all he has. In his thoughts, he travels back to his time spent with his girlfriend before he was drafted. She pleads with him not to go, saying how many people don't come back. Joe says most do, and he promises to return. Technically he did, but not in the way he wanted. There's even a part where Joe talks to Jesus Christ himself, who tells him it is almost impossible to discern reality from dreams. Another scene involves Joe running through a grassy area with lots of flowers trying to chase his girlfriend's voice. She tells Joe she is leaving him because he never really loved her. Eventually, Joe manages to talk to the nurses and people taking care of him via Morse code, and they discover he has a morbid request. Because he's unable to move or do basically anything, he wants them to make him into a kind of circus freak to be shown to audiences around america as a living symbol of how horrible war is. They tell him they can't grant this request, and Joe moves his head repeatedly, spelling out "kill me" in morse code. The people in Joe's room don't want to do this either, and decide to just leave him in his unimaginable state. A nurse tries to kill Joe when no one is watching, as she understands living like that is worse than not being alive. She's forced to stop after a man forces her to leave the room. It's at this moment Joe discovers he will be spending the rest of his existence as a living torso with no ability to move or do anything. What a truly frightening movie. This is one of few films that actually induced a slight amount of panic for me, because just witnessing Joe thrash his head around in a vain attempt to get the nurses to euthanize him is just too horrible to watch. He has no option but to keep living, if it can be called living. The acting is good, even if we don't really get to see much of it because the film keeps cutting back to Joe in his hospital bed. Lots of people only seem to know this movie exists because of Metallica, whose black and white music video for the song "One" features scenes from this movie. I hope that video inspired more people to take a look at this, because it is worth it. It really does illustrate how war being so terrible is a good thing, or else people would become too fond of it. Right after it was released, this movie was quickly forgotten, which I suppose makes sense. Not many people would want to remember something so morbid. A unique thing about this movie is how it keeps switching between color and black and white, which I rarely see for full length movies. Joe's flashbacks and dreams are in color, and when he talks to Jesus, the color is more vibrant, probably deliberately. For the depressing hospital scenes, it's in black and white, because it's the absence of happiness and color. In addition to all of its disturbing imagery, I think one of the most disturbing things about this movie is that you don't ever see Joe's face. They show it in his flashbacks, but for the hospital scenes, he is always covered in bandages. You can't even see his limb stumps because he's covered in a sheet. The filmmakers understood that showing you what he looks like now would ruin the tension, so they leave your imagination to think of something terrifying. To summarize, Johnny Got His Gun is a truly tragic and depressing movie that will definitely be hard for most people to watch, but it perfectly demonstrates the utter absurdity of war and the costs of winning one.
What a lovely war!
dbdumonteil26 June 2001
In America,this film is underrated.In my native France,it's praised by intellectuals,and it's part of what we call "ciné-club movies".In high school,this very year,my son studied passages from the book as well as scenes from the movie. Trumbo's movie might be the strongest condemnation of war that had ever been filmed.Using two colors -and even three-,toying with present and past (could we speak seriously of future?),he makes the dream of such great predecessors as Jean Renoir (la grande illusion) come true:War is impossible,because how can a wise race could tolerate such an horror? Three colors indeed: -the bleak black and white in the hospital,where asceticism rivals the best of Robert Bresson. -the luminous,radiant scenes of Johnny's past,old forties and fifties color are constantly in evidence in those memories that recall Wyler's or Ford's heyday. -the dark and threatening color that envelops the nightmares in the ruins where Johnny tries to catch up with his only love. Johnny is helpless, his loneliness is more frightening than you'll ever experiment.God can't hear you call.The merciful Jesus of Sunday school whom Johnny's mother taught him to fear and to trust has disappeared with Donald Sutherland on a runaway train.Now it's a deaf and dumb Greek divinity -check the shots of the surrealistic nightmare-,who repeats in your suffering body,in your tormented soul ,in your mind on fire,that you cannot escape your inhumane fate. The nurse provides solace for a while.She tries to communicate with him .She believes in the dignity of man,be he a peace of flesh.It encompasses masturbation as well as simply saying "merry Xmas!"But for all the others,particularly for the officer,he's someone (something?)you must hide ,you must gag,because his world has gotten no place for a human being who represents such a slur on his pride and his glory. Johnny got a raw deal....
The Ultimate Human War Story
jzappa10 September 2011
Vietnam determinedly enlightens Dalton Trumbo's repossession of old ground in the era of MASH and Catch-22. Trumbo's Johnny is, yes indeed, a guy named Joe, once a baker supporting his family, smitten with gentle Teresa Wright or Greer Garson-style girl, who joins the army because, why, "it's the sort of thing a fella oughta do, when his country is in trouble." All these familial figures are in essence Norman Rockwell collectibles. What a contrast when, in the trenches, he's sent on a round to hide a carcass that affronts a colonel's sense of smell. A shell lands near him. This is his last memory before he, regrettably, awoke, in a hospital.
The army is satisfied he has no cognizant mind. They resolve to keep him breathing only to study him. But he's cognizant all right, and little by little he becomes so of the horror of his wounds. He's literally captive within his mind, for a desperate eternity to anyone with no available concept of time, until he discovers a way of communicating with a compassionate nurse. Trumbo avails himself of a brilliant fast-cutting sequence, in a sense the sort one frequently sees in edgy late '60s and early '70s movies, but a particularly incisive and acute portrayal of mental disorientation, Bottoms struggling to organize his new life's routine without the aid of any physical outlet, no anchor for his thoughts, struggling to file them with constant bewildering disturbances and loss of bearings. Even telling day from night is a mystery for him to solve.
The upsetting premise benefits from Paths of Glory, La Jetée and the story of Helen Keller, but in no way does he tell his story in anything but the most inimitable way. Never before or since this film have we seen anything much like it. Because of Trumbo's determination to render the most exacting possible depiction of Bottoms' unique perception, there is even a transitional effect unique to this film, a fade to yellow when he feels the sun for the first time since his injuries. This truly unique work also unearths probably the most inventive use of voice-over I might've ever heard: He describes people we see as vibrations. When two nurses enter, he claims that now there are two vibrations. In a clever smidgen of much-needed levity, one nurse is fat, and he supposes it's a man.
A story that authentically imparts the loneliest possible consciousness, one where the subject can't even be sure whether or not he's alive, Trumbo draws on flashbacks and flights of a deserted, despairing imagination to make Joe alive for us, as he subsists in a living death. Evincing what could perhaps be argued as a level of bitterness in respect to the filming of Trumbo's human war tales in the past, or simply a yearning for the naivete of the old days, some memories and fantasies recreate the 1940s melodrama use of music, soft lens, close-ups and prosy dialogue. Then we find some of the brutal realities of real-life scenes are muted by some of that classic technique after awhile as well. The most pleasant flashback is the first, when Joe and his girl kiss in her living room and are cut short by her father, who sends them to her room, where there's a love scene of such softness and splendor that its resonance ring through the whole film. Representing Trumbo's own awe at his character is Donald Sutherland's Jesus, who counsels Joe in a celestial milieu more akin to how Trumbo might've truly wanted to portray the same fantasy in A Guy Named Joe over thirty years before.
Christ actually doesn't have much to put forward. He has no solutions because there are none. Indeed, the film closes with no political answers and without, as a matter of fact, even a political outlook. It purely presents a set of circumstances. Here was a loyal young American who went off and was hideously injured for no grand cause, and whose alert mind lives on as a staggering condemnation of powers that be who sent all the young men away to do this to one another.
The army is satisfied he has no cognizant mind. They resolve to keep him breathing only to study him. But he's cognizant all right, and little by little he becomes so of the horror of his wounds. He's literally captive within his mind, for a desperate eternity to anyone with no available concept of time, until he discovers a way of communicating with a compassionate nurse. Trumbo avails himself of a brilliant fast-cutting sequence, in a sense the sort one frequently sees in edgy late '60s and early '70s movies, but a particularly incisive and acute portrayal of mental disorientation, Bottoms struggling to organize his new life's routine without the aid of any physical outlet, no anchor for his thoughts, struggling to file them with constant bewildering disturbances and loss of bearings. Even telling day from night is a mystery for him to solve.
The upsetting premise benefits from Paths of Glory, La Jetée and the story of Helen Keller, but in no way does he tell his story in anything but the most inimitable way. Never before or since this film have we seen anything much like it. Because of Trumbo's determination to render the most exacting possible depiction of Bottoms' unique perception, there is even a transitional effect unique to this film, a fade to yellow when he feels the sun for the first time since his injuries. This truly unique work also unearths probably the most inventive use of voice-over I might've ever heard: He describes people we see as vibrations. When two nurses enter, he claims that now there are two vibrations. In a clever smidgen of much-needed levity, one nurse is fat, and he supposes it's a man.
A story that authentically imparts the loneliest possible consciousness, one where the subject can't even be sure whether or not he's alive, Trumbo draws on flashbacks and flights of a deserted, despairing imagination to make Joe alive for us, as he subsists in a living death. Evincing what could perhaps be argued as a level of bitterness in respect to the filming of Trumbo's human war tales in the past, or simply a yearning for the naivete of the old days, some memories and fantasies recreate the 1940s melodrama use of music, soft lens, close-ups and prosy dialogue. Then we find some of the brutal realities of real-life scenes are muted by some of that classic technique after awhile as well. The most pleasant flashback is the first, when Joe and his girl kiss in her living room and are cut short by her father, who sends them to her room, where there's a love scene of such softness and splendor that its resonance ring through the whole film. Representing Trumbo's own awe at his character is Donald Sutherland's Jesus, who counsels Joe in a celestial milieu more akin to how Trumbo might've truly wanted to portray the same fantasy in A Guy Named Joe over thirty years before.
Christ actually doesn't have much to put forward. He has no solutions because there are none. Indeed, the film closes with no political answers and without, as a matter of fact, even a political outlook. It purely presents a set of circumstances. Here was a loyal young American who went off and was hideously injured for no grand cause, and whose alert mind lives on as a staggering condemnation of powers that be who sent all the young men away to do this to one another.
...this just and holy war for everlasting peace...or so says the Pope
helpless_dancer8 September 1999
Warning: Spoilers
Man is going to have his war even if it kills him. This was a brilliant depiction of how we humans allow ourselves to be hoodwinked into buying into the loathsome futility of world combat, all in the name of patriotism, flag rallying, and keeping the home fires burning. Johnny couldn't wait to go off to the front lines; felt it was his duty, you see. Preserving democracy and all that rubbish. He felt this way because he was fed the party line at an early age. Get them early and they will never leave the fold, right? Poor Johnny didn't realize that there may be other forces at work behind the scenes; organizations that don't mind it a bit if he becomes a quadriplegic living a nightmare existence. This is not a war movie, rather a harsh look at the results of man's most insane undertaking.
Easily the greatest film on war, EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CommunistQuads27 August 2005
Just watch it. Pacifist for life. Nothing will ever change me after this. The most horrifying experience ever. Dalton Trumbo made this possibly the greatest book to film creation of all time. People who love war are simply not human, and this movie shows it perfectly. The acting is normal, and it should be. Johnny is a normal man, as all men who fight for the machine. The human condition has never been portrayed as real as this. I now see why trumbo was named one of the Hollywood 10. He was not a genius. He was a messenger with a gift for seeing reality.
Watch this film.
NOW!
Watch this film.
NOW!
Great story, so great it lifts a mediocre movie rather high
secondtake5 August 2010
Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
I was devastated by the book, in the early 1970s, and yet this movie feels forced and a little cheesy. But this is purely because of how it was made, not for the story, which is terrifying both for the idea at its core, and for the way they carry it through.
There might be some problems with the logic of what to show and from whose point of view. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is easily a way to approach this problem a little differently. Dalton Trumbo, the director and the writer here, relies heavily on flashbacks, and in a way we have a movie of a young man preparing to go to war, with his girlfriend more afraid than he is about, and a father with troubles of his own, a whole panoply of memories that make up a young man's life.. The narration by Timothy Bottoms (from the wounded soldier's head) has an awkward delivery--the words work, the voice less so.
The book when I read it felt like a protest to the Vietnam war, even though it was published in 1939. The movie was meant, I'm sure, to target more specifically Vietnam, but now, in 2010, it's lost some of that immediacy, and it becomes a bit more abstract. It's also a bit of a moviemaker's exercise, due to the restriction of point of view (either literally, or through flashbacks).
No amount of analyzing will remove the horrors of this situation. The movie lingers when you think it should move on, and it stutters at times with some less than convincing acting. But when the communication actually begins, it's quite a thrill. Trumbo is a writer and screenwriter, and maybe this wears at the overall effect of the film, as a film. As a story, it remains devastating.
I was devastated by the book, in the early 1970s, and yet this movie feels forced and a little cheesy. But this is purely because of how it was made, not for the story, which is terrifying both for the idea at its core, and for the way they carry it through.
There might be some problems with the logic of what to show and from whose point of view. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" is easily a way to approach this problem a little differently. Dalton Trumbo, the director and the writer here, relies heavily on flashbacks, and in a way we have a movie of a young man preparing to go to war, with his girlfriend more afraid than he is about, and a father with troubles of his own, a whole panoply of memories that make up a young man's life.. The narration by Timothy Bottoms (from the wounded soldier's head) has an awkward delivery--the words work, the voice less so.
The book when I read it felt like a protest to the Vietnam war, even though it was published in 1939. The movie was meant, I'm sure, to target more specifically Vietnam, but now, in 2010, it's lost some of that immediacy, and it becomes a bit more abstract. It's also a bit of a moviemaker's exercise, due to the restriction of point of view (either literally, or through flashbacks).
No amount of analyzing will remove the horrors of this situation. The movie lingers when you think it should move on, and it stutters at times with some less than convincing acting. But when the communication actually begins, it's quite a thrill. Trumbo is a writer and screenwriter, and maybe this wears at the overall effect of the film, as a film. As a story, it remains devastating.
What can come out of war
bkoganbing26 June 2014
If you are at all squeamish than please avoid seeing Johnny Got His Gun. Not there is anything to see that is particularly, but Timothy Bottoms character in and of himself is one frightening example of what can come out of war and should it.
The unkindest cut of all is minutes before the armistice was declared in operation and the guns ceased, Timothy Bottoms receives a blast from a mortar shell. Everything that makes one relate to what's around is now gone from him, four limbs, the windows to the senses all gone. But more of his brain is intact than the doctors realize and the film is narrated by Bottoms trying to communicate and also his memories of much better times before the Great War.
Dalton Trumbo of the Hollywood Ten had been back working for over a decade now from the blacklist, but here he was not writing a script but also was the director filming his own novel. No doubt certain people were looking for a hidden subversive message. But the only message that Johnny Got His Gun delivers is war is very bad thing and does terrible things to some human bodies.
Of course the title is a past tense of that opening verse of George M. Cohan's period flag waver Over There. So many young men from so many countries marched to war with those songs thinking war was some kind of honor thing. Honor if there ever was any in war was lost in that conflict where automatic weapons, poison gas, and the tank came to the fore. Kids with 19th century ideals like Bottoms as we see his reminiscences came up against something that flag waving nostrums didn't take into account.
Bottoms is brilliant in the film that first gave him stardom and the rest of the cast performs well. Credit goes to Dalton Trumbo for a necessary, but harrowing piece of cinema.
The unkindest cut of all is minutes before the armistice was declared in operation and the guns ceased, Timothy Bottoms receives a blast from a mortar shell. Everything that makes one relate to what's around is now gone from him, four limbs, the windows to the senses all gone. But more of his brain is intact than the doctors realize and the film is narrated by Bottoms trying to communicate and also his memories of much better times before the Great War.
Dalton Trumbo of the Hollywood Ten had been back working for over a decade now from the blacklist, but here he was not writing a script but also was the director filming his own novel. No doubt certain people were looking for a hidden subversive message. But the only message that Johnny Got His Gun delivers is war is very bad thing and does terrible things to some human bodies.
Of course the title is a past tense of that opening verse of George M. Cohan's period flag waver Over There. So many young men from so many countries marched to war with those songs thinking war was some kind of honor thing. Honor if there ever was any in war was lost in that conflict where automatic weapons, poison gas, and the tank came to the fore. Kids with 19th century ideals like Bottoms as we see his reminiscences came up against something that flag waving nostrums didn't take into account.
Bottoms is brilliant in the film that first gave him stardom and the rest of the cast performs well. Credit goes to Dalton Trumbo for a necessary, but harrowing piece of cinema.
War is Depressing
icwrjohn6 September 2004
Someone's review of this film called this film depressing. I would like to know, what is not depressing about war? I am a historian and genealogist and I have encountered war all too often in my work. Sherman said "War is hell." It is probably the truest thing he ever said. This film explores the horror of war. Long before medicine reached the point that it's at now, Dalton Trumbo wrote about a man who had nothing left but a mind and part of his body. If you lived through the '60's you know what an impression this made when the film was released. As an anti-war movie it is "The" anti-war movie. There ought to be a law, one that's enforceable, that requires all national leaders - regardless of what country, nationality, philoposphy, religion, background - be required to watch this movie. And if that had no effect on them, let them read the book. War is Hell, guys. It's depressing and dirty and bloody and anyone who says otherwise has never been there or know what it's like. This is not in my list of best movies ever made but it sure makes me despise war of all kinds. See it and see why!
Dalton Got His Sycophants
jhlex8 August 2023
I saw Johnny Got His Gun at the theater when it was released. I feel I'm reading revisionist history in these reviews. Those at the time were not kind to it and it was easy to see why. When I saw it easily 25% of the audience left. I stayed to the bitter end and kept saying to myself this has to get better. Was I ever wrong. Afterwards I read a review in the Louisville Courier-Journal which basically said if this was the movie the anti-war movement thought would get its message across they made a grave error as over half the audience walked out.
If you want the anti-war message read the book.
If you want the anti-war message read the book.
So much more than just anti-war ...
SimonJack23 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
The sheer drama of this film has a powerful effect on the senses. In such a setting, it seems only normal to cry out against the horrors of war, to shed tears and to feel the deep sorrow and tragedy of lives lost or maimed. But to label this just as a great anti-war film and let it go at that seems too simplistic. To see it merely for its cry for pacifism de facto seems to dismiss a need for social consciousness and responsibility in a world that includes violent aggression, oppression and persecution. And to view it as a depiction of the horrors of war only, seems to ignore an overarching message.
Isn't that message that this one human life was and is so valuable? Isn't it that every single person is of such huge and tremendous worth? From the scenes of the mere trunk of a human being covered by sheets on the bed, to the flashbacks of his memories, to his thoughts and mental pleas in the present, the film cries out to one's heart of the humanness of Joey Bonham. And of the value and importance of his life. Not only to himself, but also to all others he touched in his life. Even to us viewers of the film. In our own humanity, we can't simply discard him.
Doesn't this realization of the value of a person and real worth of every single being – no matter his size, capabilities, development, or other physical or mental characteristics – doesn't this recognition call out for our human response? But as the film showed, the apparent decent and human care and treatment given Joey on the surface, was devoid of the real human commitment to caring love. Only in one person did we see a truly selfless care and love -- in, the nurse toward the end of the film. Only she did not dismiss Joey as useless, of no value, helpless and hopeless. Or as a vegetable to be cared for until he died. In her first tears, she realized the tremendous devaluation of this one person. She let herself feel the deep agony of the patient. She dared to reach out to him and responded to his head movements.
And, just look at Joey's response! Sheer joy in just being recognized. Tremendous happiness at being able to communicate with the "outside world." A spark of hope that all was not lost. It may seem macabre that Joey would want to be put in a circus display to be a living human freak that people could see and enjoy. Did that not spring from his joy at recognition and zeal for having meaning and worth yet in his life? Didn't it come from a rekindled sense of being of worth and value to others? Think of his joy at the thought of being outside, in the light – more "alive" in the world with some meaning and value to his life – rather than being holed up out of site and out of the minds of everyone. Lost and forgotten to the world.
While the film comes to a quick close after this, unresolved in the outcome and his fate, Joey's spark of hope cried out more to me of the tragedy of life in war and many socio-political facets of life today. That is that every life is of such great value, and no life is of no value. And when society realizes that and begins to live that way, we may indeed have an end to war once and for all. And to terrorism and the killing of innocent human beings in any and all means and places.
Isn't that message that this one human life was and is so valuable? Isn't it that every single person is of such huge and tremendous worth? From the scenes of the mere trunk of a human being covered by sheets on the bed, to the flashbacks of his memories, to his thoughts and mental pleas in the present, the film cries out to one's heart of the humanness of Joey Bonham. And of the value and importance of his life. Not only to himself, but also to all others he touched in his life. Even to us viewers of the film. In our own humanity, we can't simply discard him.
Doesn't this realization of the value of a person and real worth of every single being – no matter his size, capabilities, development, or other physical or mental characteristics – doesn't this recognition call out for our human response? But as the film showed, the apparent decent and human care and treatment given Joey on the surface, was devoid of the real human commitment to caring love. Only in one person did we see a truly selfless care and love -- in, the nurse toward the end of the film. Only she did not dismiss Joey as useless, of no value, helpless and hopeless. Or as a vegetable to be cared for until he died. In her first tears, she realized the tremendous devaluation of this one person. She let herself feel the deep agony of the patient. She dared to reach out to him and responded to his head movements.
And, just look at Joey's response! Sheer joy in just being recognized. Tremendous happiness at being able to communicate with the "outside world." A spark of hope that all was not lost. It may seem macabre that Joey would want to be put in a circus display to be a living human freak that people could see and enjoy. Did that not spring from his joy at recognition and zeal for having meaning and worth yet in his life? Didn't it come from a rekindled sense of being of worth and value to others? Think of his joy at the thought of being outside, in the light – more "alive" in the world with some meaning and value to his life – rather than being holed up out of site and out of the minds of everyone. Lost and forgotten to the world.
While the film comes to a quick close after this, unresolved in the outcome and his fate, Joey's spark of hope cried out more to me of the tragedy of life in war and many socio-political facets of life today. That is that every life is of such great value, and no life is of no value. And when society realizes that and begins to live that way, we may indeed have an end to war once and for all. And to terrorism and the killing of innocent human beings in any and all means and places.
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