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IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1042424/ RT: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/johnny_mad_dog/ First off, let me preface this review by saying that I've been waiting a really long time to see this movie. A friend and I had heard and read about it, not being able to find any theater playing it or store selling it. If you want to watch this movie, you don't have many options as it's really hard to find (do I really need to spell it out for you?). "No blood no war! You don't wanna die!? don't be born!" (child soldier chant) This is a fictional story loosely based off a book about very real events: 10 to 16 year-old child soldiers in an unnamed African country, most likely 1990's Liberia. A big portion of the actors in this film are actual ex-child soldiers. The plot follows Johnny Mad Dog, leader of a small group of young militants called the "Death Dealers" part of a bigger adult rebel army set to overturn the government. There is also a side story about a girl, her brother and her father caught in the middle of this civil war. The film starts off with a child being threatened to kill his father or be killed himself ("We all did it when we got into this!"), which is a really powerful moment of the movie. It goes to show how these seemingly normal children can, in a second, become killers obsessed with the one goal of getting rid of the "Dogos", who they have been brainwashed into thinking are pigs endangering their freedom. While the movie mostly shows the story of these children, there is a romantic plotline which gives it more depth. The ending is incredible, leaving you to wonder just what these children become now that the war is over. The visuals in this movie are fantastic, combining innovative camera angles and moody lighting. Graphically, the violence is always "half shown", meaning you won't see heads exploding, but the editing and ambiance make these scenes nonetheless shocking. Blood and explosions are always a plus in my book, and while this isn't the point of the movie, there are some brutally real assaults: one scene in particular involves a coked-up Mad Dog shooting a rocket launcher into the national TV station building, then shows him and his "friends" rampaging through the halls killing pretty much every "Dogo" people they see. Two of them, that is our hero and an even younger more psychotic No Good Advice, end up raping the news anchor. The editing is top-notch, letting you see just enough bullets, blood and crazy-eyed children to give you a feeling of the horror experienced by these kids, yet not enough to make you feel like vomiting. This is a great aspect of the movie as it isn't simply made to show gore. There's a really deep message to it: the kids are manipulated and have no choice, which forces them to willingly be violent and ruthless. There was practically nothing I did not enjoy about this movie, other than the awkward and disturbing sex scene(s). But I guess it's a good portrayal of how things were. If you're going to watch this movie, I recommend you find/activate subtitles for it as most of the dialogue is in a hard-to-understand English dialect. This is not the type of movie you go see for enjoyment: it was made to make you think and possibly react. I'm doing my part by attempting to spread the word. I give this movie a 5/5 for its sheer boldness in the portrayal of the horror of child soldiers. go play outside Skyler fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Jun 25, 2009 |
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Jun 25, 2009 15:37
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