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A young American soldier, tragically hit by a shell on the
last day of the First World War, lies in a hospital bed, a
quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, mouth
and nose. Remaining conscious, and still able to reason, he
tries to communicate to his doctors his wish that he be put
on show in a carnival as a demonstration of the full horrors
of war...
Johnny
Got His Gun was the only movie that Dalton Trumbo directed
- although he was responsible for writing a number of well
received films including Sparticus, Papillon
and Roman Holiday.
Stylistically
this movie is interesting. Usually in films where colour changes
are used to differentiate the past and present the director
opts for black and white for the past and colour for the current
events. However, Trumbo reverses this visual style so that
colour now represents the past. This is probably down to the
fact that most of the events that lead to Joe being in hospital
are told in flashback form.
And
it's not really about the horrors of war, there are several
different threads including the relationship between Joe and
his father that are investigated, but on reflection a lot
of the other plot developments that are explored add nothing
to the story and just pad out the story. The acting is also
very patchy in places which doesn't help matters.
This
movie is a little too slow moving for today's action hungry
audiences and not touching enough to act as a romantic/tragic
film. The
conclusion is not only moving, but truly terrifying - the
lessons that should have been learnt after the war - man's
inhumanity to man - continues unabated.
The
DVD could have done with a few extras. There isn't even a
subtitle option for the hard of hearing.
This
is a powerful, and moving picture but it hasn't aged as well
as it could have.
Ray
Thompson
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