For those unfamiliar, the absolutely devastating antiwar film
Johnny Got His Gun was the inspiration for Metallica's "One." It is the story of a WWI soldier (Joe, not Johnny) who loses his limbs and speech. Thinking him a vegetable, the army doctors keep him alive as he slowly comes to realize his situation and lose his sanity. Some thoughts made during my (much belated) first viewing:
Father catches young lovers making out, then sends them to the bedroom. Prelovemaking scene is quite sweet.
Christ, they're storing him in a utility closet.
Donald Sutherland! Dressed and bearded like Jesus! Oh, shit, Donald Sutherland
is Jesus!
I always suspected.
The dream life is in color. WWI is in cold black and white.
Daddy's finely lacquered pole is what set him apart from other men.
Fuck, the rat. That rat's going to eat his face. Fuck!
Joe is depressing Jesus. Also, Jesus is a bit of a prick.
I believe 100% that officers in the British Army freely debated the relative odor of rotting corpses from Bavaria, India and Wales during the days of the Empire.
In Joe's creepy carnival dream, his father and mother bark about the wonders of the limbless, senseless man while his naked girlfriend collects money from and is groped by phantom gawkers in the middle of the desert. The dwarves feast on grapes.
Unicorn! Why not!
That new nurse is totally going to pull a Jenny Fields on Joe.
Ending is fittingly dreary.
Any line from this film is better than every line in every other film. I offer as proof the following:
"This young man will be as unfeeling, as unthinking as the dead, until the day he joins them."
"So many dead men, you wouldn't believe it."
"In previous years, each injury has resulted in a very serious loss to the taxpayer. The loss of a most expensively trained soldier, or Fighting Unit as we call him now."
"Matter is mortal error."
Son: "What is democracy?"
Father: "Well, that's never very clear.... It's got something to do with young men killing each other."
Son: "Why don't old men kill each other?"
Father: "Well they're needed to keep the home fires burning."
Son: "Couldn't the young men do that just as well?"
Father: "Young men don't have homes. That's why they must go out and kill each other."
"Put your arms around me. I need their warmth to keep the chill of death away."
"You're a very unlucky man and sometimes it rubs off." -- Jesus
"Oh Jesus Christ, it's me and I'm alive!"
"Poor, poor baby."
"What were you hunting when they caught you?"
"I will not risk testing his faith against your stupidity."
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
The final line is from Horace, it translates to "It is sweet and proper to die for one's country." I know this because it was one of the load-screen quotes used in the game Rome: Total War.
