Johnny Got His Gun

This 1971 anti-war ‘classic’ is a surreal nightmare of a flick centered on the disconnected mental ramblings and delusional recollections of a young, naive country boy, reduced to something resembling a Chicken McNugget by a German artillery shell on the last day of WW1. This strange, hodge-podge of image and sound (some quite good) carries a sheen of tragedy that is brought up short by some horrendously robotic acting and ‘weird for the sake of weird’ visuals. One interesting plot device is the use of B/W for the ‘present’ with color footage countering for his delusions and memories. And Donald Sutherland as Jesus? Priceless. Anyone who has seen the video for the Metallica’s track ‘One’…is aware of this flicks existence. Given the uncomfortable, slightly sick tone of this movie…I see why they chose to ‘borrow’ footage from it. All in all, this one is a tough one to recommend. People who appreciate strange films that go against the grain may get something from this…other’s will just be bored or annoyed by it. I fall somewhere in the middle