Speaking of which, I can't help but think of Chinese war-themed movies, and can't help but feel a kind of sadness. China's five-thousand-year history of civilization is not as good as the five-thousand-year history of wars. Open the vast history books, and the battles for emperors and generals are like countless stars. However, the Chinese nation is the world's wounded by war. The deepest group, but not a single movie is anti-war, even if it is not anti-war, but taking war as a show of capital is really an incredible phenomenon in the theme of war in China. Take a look at "Armageddon", "Mine Wars" and "Mine Wars". "Tunnel Warfare"... It is ridiculous and sad to regard these wars as an invincible propaganda tool for our party's heroic and skillful warfare. Director Zhang's "Hero" actually beautifies the war into a righteous battle for a family, and Director Feng's "Assembly" is at best That is, a high praise for humanity and a far cry from the anti-war theme. In Chinese movies, I really can't find a movie that is anti-war, but it also has real helplessness and compromise.
I really hate those hypocritical movies that are still anti-war for some reason after watching the movie, and "Johnny the Mad Dog" is a movie that makes people absolutely hate war after watching it, not to mention this one How does the movie reflect the anti-war theme? Just talking about the viewing effect after it is screened is already the best interpretation and sublimation of the anti-war theme.
The narrative thread of this film couldn't be clearer. That is, a main line, which is also the storyline that accounts for a large amount of the entire film. A group of child soldiers of the anti-government rebels in a certain African country are led by a 15-year-old Johnny nicknamed "Mad Dog". , slaughtering the villagers of the Dugao ethnic group, burning, killing and looting, raping women... It can be said that they do all kinds of evil, like a group of dehumanized demon kings; the other side line is the 13-year-old girl Raokele who escaped the brutal war, representing the African people who are not afraid of rape and strong Brave side. One main and one pair of two-day clues basically do not interfere with each other, and the two flowers each form a branch, and only cross in a small part in the middle and the end of the film.
At the beginning of the film, the bloody scene of these child soldiers breaking into a village to hunt and kill the villagers immediately brought people into the chaotic Africa. Machine guns brutally deal with unarmed civilians, while on the other side, a thug casually tries on a wedding dress in the room amid the noisy gunfire quarrel. The white and flawless wedding dress is being swallowed by this dirty and bloody world. In the footage that followed, it really opened my eyes to me who lived in a peaceful age. These teenage child soldiers were no different from adults. They attacked the capital, attacked the Occupy TV station, gang-raped the female anchor, and shouted with strong political overtones. The slogan of killing an ant is like squeezing an ant without blinking, skilled and well-trained sniper tactics... I really can't understand what makes these children and child soldiers so crazy and violent, the film footage is not stingy of each display. When the rebels and the government reach a settlement agreement and the war is over, Johnny asks the general "what should we do next" in confusion, and the general unceremoniously abandons him. We not only ask who are the victims of the war, these children started the war, but they are nothing more than the exploits and victims of the interests of the politicians. The dirtiest thing in the world is the faces of politicians.
The father of 13-year-old girl Raokelay lost both legs because of the war and was shot by rioters. In order to save her father from the hail of bullets, Raokelay used a cart to pull his father to the hospital. When his father died, she calmly took her to the hospital. The father's body was buried on the side of the road, and the persistent search for his lost brother continued. Raokole represents the majority of African people, who have suffered from war and chaos, but still bravely fight against the world in their own way.
The shaking lens reproduces the scenes of war, and the style similar to the documentary restores the face of Africa that we don't know to the greatest extent, especially the actors who play these child soldiers have both the form and spirit of the brutal interpretation of these child soldiers. come true. I love how the film is not sloppy and unabashedly unabashed. The director uses the anti-government rebels as the narrator of the story. The film follows them to show the war and the dire straits of the people on the continent of Africa, while the shots of the government troops are rarely involved, which reminds me of the film with director Lu Chuan. In "Nanjing, Nanjing", a Japanese soldier is used as the protagonist of the narrative.
But unfortunately, there are several flawed plots in the film that I can't figure out. Raokole, who was avoiding the rebels, met Johnny, the rebel who came to search, but Johnny let her go. Did Johnny find out in his conscience? With compassion for her, why did Johnny, a brutal and murderous little boss like a game, just let her, who had never lived, be spared? This obviously doesn't make sense. In addition, why does another child soldier care so much about the stolen pig as his own private property, in this city controlled by the rebels can do whatever they want, this shit doesn't make sense, I don't know what the director wants to express.
The end of the film abruptly ends when Rao Colei uses a machine gun to target Johnny who wants to rape him, leaving the audience with the suspense of Johnny's life or death. The ending of the suspense is irrelevant. What is important is the thinking left behind. If society really becomes a world without constraints, people can do whatever they want, then how many people will the flowers of evil blossom and bear fruit in their hearts, and everyone has evil hearts. If all become a reality, what will the world look like? War is the realistic version of the flower of evil in the hearts of politicians.
As an anti-war movie, Johnny Mad Dog does, I think, because it does make us hate war.
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