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Amputee Major 
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TITLE |
Johnny Got His Gun (1971) |
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DISABILITY |
Amputee
Disfigurement |
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NOTES |
A young man
returns from WWI seriously injured. He has |
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lost his
arms, his legs, and much of his face. |
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His story
forms the basis for a talky, anti-war film. An |
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indicator of
its posture is that Donald Sutherland plays Jesus |
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At the
beginning during the b&w section the surgeon |
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consultant
is on crutches. |
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From the
doctor there is a detailed exposition of the young |
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man's fate.
He will be "unfeeling, unthinking". |
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The film
uses colour in the section that shows how Johnny |
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got into his
present state with parts of his growing up. How he |
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loses his
virginity and when his father dies. |
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As Johnny
lays in hospital we hear his voice describing what |
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he thinks is
happening to him which contrasts with the off- |
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hand
attentions of the medical staff. |
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At one point
someone says. "A man with only one arm is a |
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cripple and
all he can do is go around selling pencils." |
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He's moved
into a utility room so people can't stare at him |
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with the
explanation that "he can't tell" |
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Johnny
ponders "what kind of doctor would cut a man down to |
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what I am
now and let him live. Do they have a bet on? Are |
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they showing
off or something? A kind of experiment?" |
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During one
of the war scenes Sutherland. Plays a Christ-like |
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figure who
lives among the soldiers to look after the dead |
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The film
switches back and forth between Johnny's present state and his growing
up.
A
new head nurse opens the blinds in the utility room and orders changes
e.g. sheets instead of just blankets. Now he is able to tell night
from day. The nurse begins to understand that he can feel and
she communicates with him by drawing letters on his chest. She
believes that his movements are not reflexive. The
General/surgeon returns with other officers one of whom says J's
nodding is actually morse code. The General is ashamed. When J is
asked what he wants he answers where people can see him -- in a
carnival show. When this is refused he asks to be killed.
He pleas with the nurse to help him die. She does but a new surgeon
saves him.
Thoughtful, reflective film with many homilies on the dreadfulness of
war.
The film is blatantly propagandistic and shows how if you try too hard
to make your point you lose your audience.
Film shows how he is fed but not his other needs.
Format dissipates the emotional impact.
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Notes
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