So I watched two movies recently that were pretty freaking crazy.
The first was Johnny Got His Gun. The movie is about a WWI American soldier who has his arms and legs blown off during combat. His face is also destroyed, leaving just a hole. He is hooked up to a respirator and is fed through a tube. The doctors think he is decerebrated (just a vegetable with only motor functions), but he is actually conscious and his brain is perfectly fine. The doctors keep his body alive to do medical tests.
"I don't know whether I'm alive and dreaming or dead and remembering!"
The film focuses on his attempts to communicate with the medical staff and to keep his sanity. He at first can't tell when he is conscious or dreaming. He searches his dreams for help -- to get out of his predicament -- but no one can help him, even Jesus (played by Donald Sutherland). Most of the movie is about the young man trying to get to know his father better, who died just before he left for the war. His girlfriend is also a focus, who ends up leaving him for another man in his dreams. He ends up making contact with the medical staff. But I won't say anything more, in case you ever end up seeing it.
It was probably the most depressing movie I've ever seen... which for some reason are the types of movies I've been enjoying most lately. In terms of despair, it's up there with (and probably exceeds) Eternal Sunshine, The Vicious Kind, Deer Hunter, and Taxi Driver, the movie I'll talk about next.
I finally got around to seeing Taxi Driver. It's one of Robert De Niro's earlier movies. Came out in 1976. He is freggin' badass. I think his character is a Vietnam vet. Anyway, De Niro is a taxi driver in New York in the mid-70's when that city is basically hell on earth. He sees first hand the destructive force of drugs, prostitution, gangs, and lack of opportunity.
He ends up being rejected by a beautiful woman played by Cybill Shepperd. She is probably supposed to represent his rejection from society. Whatever it represents, her leaving directly impacts his loneliness. She was his only real contact with people after a year of being a taxi driver -- even while living in a huge city (the irony of living in cities is loneliness, I suppose).
You might not know it, but this movie is where the phrase
"You talkin' to me!?" comes from.
Eventually he gets pissed about his surroundings, especially how the politicians make promises they can't hold (cleaning up New York). He takes matters into his own hands and buys a whole bunch of handguns, and a huge ass knife. He starts carrying the guns and stops a crime or two, just randomly, usually by violently shooting the bad guys.
He meets this like 12 year old prostitute (no joke) played by Jodie Foster (who was 14 at the time), and it's more than he can bear. But again, I won't ruin the ending.
This movie was more violent than Johnny Got His Gun, so I didn't enjoy it as much, but it was still very very good. It dealt with concepts of loneliness, despair, and the warped "good guy" using vigilante justice. Vigilantes can be good guys, right? I mean c'mon, ever see Death Wish? (any one of the 9 billion that they made)
These movies are definitely worth seeing (not Death Wish), but I definitely recommend being in a good mood beforehand, so you don't slit your wrists during the movies -- haha.
Good day!
