Johnny Mad Dog
One of my favourite genres is the war film. Each war film has a set of conventions that are usually followed. Examples are: dehumanising initiation to the world of war in training; the soldiers are good men forced by circumstance to do evil things; the group will be a cohesive ‘band of brothers’; there will be leaders and followers; there will be an ‘outcast’ who is part of the group and yet not part of it and this outsider will either be a coward, a rebel or one who enjoys the brutalising consequences of war a little too much.
“Johnny Mad Dog” follows all of these conventions – adds a few more and the remarkable thing about the film is that none of the soldiers are over the age of 14. (The majority look about 11)
The film is set in the Liberian Civil war and is based upon a book by a US based Congolese author; it follows the brutal and sometimes harrowing adventures of a group of child soldiers led by the eponymous Johnny Mad Dog and his nasty little shit of second in command and rival ‘No Good advice’. (Other boys have similar names like ‘Jungle Rocket’ and ‘Small Devil’). The boys are cynically used as cannon fodder for the adult government backed troops to draw sniper fire or clear mines and IEDs but have a roving commission to execute civilians for target practice and group bonding purposes, press gang other boy soldiers into their unit and indulge in casual rape and torture. ‘Band of Brothers’ or ‘Saving Private Ryan’ this is not – these children are evil personified... think Lord of the Flies with AK47s
Yet the genius of the filmmaker is to get you to identify with this feral tribe of ‘Lost boys’ and invite you to try to understand their plight. This is done by constantly cutting to a parallel storyline of a young girl fleeing from the front line with her family, including her crippled father and younger brother.
I’ll not give too much away but there is a crisis point when the young girl meets Johnny and his character seems to be altered – redemption?... well, you’ll have to see for yourself.
The acting is superb throughout, with special plaudits to the kids playing ‘Johnny Mad Dog’ and his deranged second in command; the female child actor (Lokoto?) also displays a range way beyond her years.
All in all, it was an uncomfortable night in the cinema and the film stayed in my mind for many hours after the curtains closed and the turbulent ending is still causing me to reappraise my initial feelings; but this is a film I’d thoroughly recommend... but be warned, it is not one for the faint hearted. It doesn’t deal in the glory of war - rather it deals with the imbecility of war and gets you to question your previous enjoyment of the genre.
8.5/10 – remarkable filmmaking at its best... but don’t take a date unless its Kate Adie
