DNA's Daniel Pinto takes a look at some of the greatest films of the New Hollywood Era of 1971, which saw the introduction of social realism, hitherto undisplayed acts of sex and violence and path-breaking techniques in direction, cinematography and acting.


Johnny Got His Gun

Echoing All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Paths of Glory (1952), Johnny Got His Gun depicted the terrors of world war one, with the charging into demonic machine gun fire, the rotting away of corpses in rat-infested trenches. Yet, the film lingered on a living, breathing nightmare. Picture if you will, a faceless lad ripped apart from his loved ones who is then confined in an alien infirmary bed and deprived of sight, vision, speech and limbs. This typifies the horror the film holds for young Joe Bonham (Timothy Bottoms), who is left to divine signs from the outside world through vague vibrations. Joe’s febrile mind cannot distinguish between reality (in grainy black and white) and in fantasy (muted colors) where we visit his childhood, his last day with his sweetheart and encounters a tragically impotent Jesus Christ (those bits were written by master surrealist Luis Banuel). The film was Dalton Trumbo’s adaptation of his own 1938 National Book Award winner of the same name. Trumbo’s screenwriting for The Brave One and Roman Holiday, while being famously blacklisted from Hollywood for espousing the communist cause, won him 2 Oscars.

In dark irony, the film ends with the words: War Dead Since 1914: Over 80,000,000 Missing or Mutilated: Over 150,000,000 "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori"  (It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country)