Johnny Got His Gun, 1971

Famed blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo's only directorial effort is truly a powerful anti-war film, but, as other reviewers have noted, it's not just an anti-war film. At its core it's a very existential story about the power and mystery of the human mind. In this case, it's a mind that has been deprived of a functioning body. I would recommend watching it as part of a double bill with The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), a similar film concerning the true story of a quadriplegic frenchman who could communicate with the rest of the world only through blinking his one good eye. The only significant difference between the two stories (aside from the frenchman's ability to see) is that "Johnny" is about a young man crippled by war, whereas "Diving Bell" is about a middle-aged man crippled by a stroke. Guess which film is far more depressing. In "Diving Bell" the crippled man at least had a lifetime of memories - some bad, but some wonderful - to fall back on to lift his spirits (as well as the audience's). "Johnny", however, had only the memory of one awkward night with the girl back home whom he might've married someday. There, I suppose, in a nutshell is the true tragedy of war, which this film captures so well: it's not simply the senseless loss of life, as millions die tragic deaths everyday, even in peace-time, but it's the senseless waste of so many young lives before they really get a chance to live.

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