Johnny zieht in den Krieg (1971)

Johnny zieht in den Krieg: Directed by Dalton Trumbo. With Timothy Bottoms, Kathy Fields, Marsha Hunt, Jason Robards. In this tragic, dark, anti-war satire, a patriotic young American in WW1 is rendered blind, deaf, limbless, and mute by a horrific artillery shell attack. Trapped in what’s left of his body, he desperately looks for a way to end his life.

“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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis was really a soul-shattering movie in a lot of ways. After watching it I couldnu0026#39;t get it out of my head for hours after hours. I couldnu0026#39;tu0026#39; 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI didnu0026#39;t read the book, which Iu0026#39;ve been told is even more dramatic than the film. I honestly canu0026#39;t imagine that. I donu0026#39;t think I could read the book. Parts of it make me think of u0026quot;All Quiet on the Western Frontu0026quot; but in far more isolated ways. Thereu0026#39;s no glory here.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDonald Sutherlandu0026#39;s Christ is a fascinating character and compelling. Joeu0026#39;s flashbacks are all meaningful and relate to the u0026quot;big questionsu0026quot; heu0026#39;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 u0026quot;donu0026#39;t make a whore out of heru0026quot; is profound in its delivery.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt is fairly artistic in a very dark sense. Itu0026#39;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 doesnu0026#39;t involve them. Make no mistake, this sort of thing goes on every day as there are wars every day.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;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.”