- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Making Of, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: Today, in contemporary Africa. Johnny, 15, a kid-soldier armed to the hilt, is inhabited by the mad dog he dreams of becoming. With his small commando No Good Advice, Small Devil, Young Major he robs, pillages, and slays everything in his path. Laokolé, 16, pushing her disabled facther around in a rickety wheelbarrow, attempting to invent the glorious future which her brilliant studies seem to have in store for her, strives to flee her city occupied by teenage-soldier militias, with her little brother Fofo, 8. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Cannes Film Festival, Stockholm Film Festival, ...Johnny Mad Dog (2008)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The movie follows two parallel stories - that of a gang of child soldiers and of a teenage girl (Laokole) trying to save her disabled father and younger brother Fofo from the horrors of civil war - in what appears to be Liberia but is supposed to represent any of a number of similar countries / situations.
While one does not see it for the child soldiers in question the whole process from initiation (forcing them to kill their parents, making it a journey of no return), motivation through the use of drugs and 'black magic' (potions and amulets that will make them invisible and bullets not hit them), political indoctrination and finally deployment are shown. It's a heartrending story both looking at the gruesome consequences of the use of child soldiers on their victims, as well as at the childhood brutally misplaced, the consequences still apparent in the child soldiers themselves, the other victims.
The whole circle is closed once the government is crushed and the capital taken and pillaged. Then the 'general' leading the child soldiers gets adopted into the regular army (as a corporal) and they are supposed to just slink away and disappear - something impossible to expect of a 10 to 15 year old who has gone through such brutality. So the seeds for the next round of both civil war and child soldiery are sown.
The movie comes to an end in a confrontation between Johnny Mad Dog - the leader of the child soldier gang and Laokole after hostilities cease - a meeting that portrays the tragic fate to be suffered by any country that has descended into the abyss of perpetual civil war and the use of children in warfare.
The movie is also a silent cry for help to help both end the situation, or at the very least help with cleaning up the consequences of this horrendous development of the end of the 20th century.
On top of the really excellently developed story, the acting is also relatively good throughout, so a definite recommendation - if you can cope with a relatively heavy movie without happy endings.
While one does not see it for the child soldiers in question the whole process from initiation (forcing them to kill their parents, making it a journey of no return), motivation through the use of drugs and 'black magic' (potions and amulets that will make them invisible and bullets not hit them), political indoctrination and finally deployment are shown. It's a heartrending story both looking at the gruesome consequences of the use of child soldiers on their victims, as well as at the childhood brutally misplaced, the consequences still apparent in the child soldiers themselves, the other victims.
The whole circle is closed once the government is crushed and the capital taken and pillaged. Then the 'general' leading the child soldiers gets adopted into the regular army (as a corporal) and they are supposed to just slink away and disappear - something impossible to expect of a 10 to 15 year old who has gone through such brutality. So the seeds for the next round of both civil war and child soldiery are sown.
The movie comes to an end in a confrontation between Johnny Mad Dog - the leader of the child soldier gang and Laokole after hostilities cease - a meeting that portrays the tragic fate to be suffered by any country that has descended into the abyss of perpetual civil war and the use of children in warfare.
The movie is also a silent cry for help to help both end the situation, or at the very least help with cleaning up the consequences of this horrendous development of the end of the 20th century.
On top of the really excellently developed story, the acting is also relatively good throughout, so a definite recommendation - if you can cope with a relatively heavy movie without happy endings.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a French/Liberian film, based on the novel `Johnny Chien Mechant' by the Congolese author Emmanuel Dongala. It follows a group of boy soldiers fighting at the end of the second Liberian Civil War in 2003, the platoon is led by Johnny Mad Dog, who does not even remember his former life or his real name. He is the eldest at just fifteen. The rest range from ten to fifteen and some were actually former boy soldiers, so this has its' authenticity credentials pinned firmly to the mast.
It stars Christopher Minie who plays the title character, and he is led by General Never Die on a rampage across Liberia heading towards the capital Monrovia, which is still being held tentatively by the Dogo tribal government. This is inter racial genocide up close and far too personal. The children are armed to the teeth and wear all sorts of clothing that they have pillaged from their fellow countrymen. These range from a white wedding dress to a pair of angel wings. The surrealness of the attire juxtaposes deliberately with the wanton and brutal violence that they inflict. This is both physical and sexual and happens throughout. General Never Die uses all sorts of techniques to influence the boys, from basic threats to voodoo and cocaine - the latter seeming to stoke the violence more than any other `training technique'. They are systematically dehumanised, but actually show great consideration for each of their platoon members. That small piece of compassion is not enough to engender empathy though, as they are all deeply unlikable. Even though you know they are the victims of stolen innocence, they still use their imaginations to create fear and torture their victims.
They have all been given weird names, such as `No Good Advice', `Captain Dust to Dust' and `Chicken Hair', this obviously to distance themselves from their former lives as real children. The UN are shown as pointless and toothless, a theme that runs through too many tales of modern conflict. There is a sort of love interest, but as that is an emotion in very short supply, it struggles to work on the screen. However, this film will draw you in and it is very immediate, sometimes feeling like a documentary and the pace does not let up for the full 94 minutes, so a lot of praise to director Jean-Stephanie Sauvaire.
It has been criticised for not being a fully developed film with plot twist aplenty etc. However, that was never the intention, if you want to see more of this type of film then you could try `The Silent Army/Wit Licht'Silent Army [DVD], it is more human but less believable for it. This is not an excellent film, but it is an excellent attempt to bring the tragic stories of child soldiers to the attention of the wider world - very recommended.
It stars Christopher Minie who plays the title character, and he is led by General Never Die on a rampage across Liberia heading towards the capital Monrovia, which is still being held tentatively by the Dogo tribal government. This is inter racial genocide up close and far too personal. The children are armed to the teeth and wear all sorts of clothing that they have pillaged from their fellow countrymen. These range from a white wedding dress to a pair of angel wings. The surrealness of the attire juxtaposes deliberately with the wanton and brutal violence that they inflict. This is both physical and sexual and happens throughout. General Never Die uses all sorts of techniques to influence the boys, from basic threats to voodoo and cocaine - the latter seeming to stoke the violence more than any other `training technique'. They are systematically dehumanised, but actually show great consideration for each of their platoon members. That small piece of compassion is not enough to engender empathy though, as they are all deeply unlikable. Even though you know they are the victims of stolen innocence, they still use their imaginations to create fear and torture their victims.
They have all been given weird names, such as `No Good Advice', `Captain Dust to Dust' and `Chicken Hair', this obviously to distance themselves from their former lives as real children. The UN are shown as pointless and toothless, a theme that runs through too many tales of modern conflict. There is a sort of love interest, but as that is an emotion in very short supply, it struggles to work on the screen. However, this film will draw you in and it is very immediate, sometimes feeling like a documentary and the pace does not let up for the full 94 minutes, so a lot of praise to director Jean-Stephanie Sauvaire.
It has been criticised for not being a fully developed film with plot twist aplenty etc. However, that was never the intention, if you want to see more of this type of film then you could try `The Silent Army/Wit Licht'Silent Army [DVD], it is more human but less believable for it. This is not an excellent film, but it is an excellent attempt to bring the tragic stories of child soldiers to the attention of the wider world - very recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
great film , about child soldiers . hard to watch at times , i don't agree with the others reviews , great acting , i would watch again.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
couldn't care less
The main problem with the film is that I really couldn't give a damn about any of the characters. After 1 hour I turned it off when I realised I just didn't care what happened to... Read more
Published 7 months ago by S Russell
Beautiful, horrific, and pure cinema
I finally forced myself to watch Johnny Mad Dog - a film that's been on my shelf for a while, and which I'd been afraid to tackle on my own, on the grounds the content would... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Zee Jai
Not a lot happens.....
As a film, it's quite well made and the acting is excellent from the child soldiers.
However, the story is rather poor and like my title suggests..... not a lot happens. Read more
However, the story is rather poor and like my title suggests..... not a lot happens. Read more
Published on 26 May 2010 by Chris Turner
Absolute rubbish
Having read about this film and then anxiously waiting for it to be released it was a huge disappointment and absolute rubbish. Read more
Published on 4 April 2010 by Charles M. Hosking
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
