- A filmed live theater performance starring Ben McKenzie of the Off-Broadway stage monologue adapted from Dalton Trumbo's classic anti-war novel. The story of a young American soldier hit by an artillery shell on the last day of the First World War. The film takes place in the mind of a quadruple amputee who has also lost his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Regaining consciousness, 20 year-old Joe Bonham slowly discovers that while his brain is healthy and able to reason, the rest of his body is irreparably shattered, leaving him forever trapped within the confines of his own imagination. He struggles valiantly to find some way to communicate with the outside world. Tapping his head in Morse code he breaks through and pleads with his caretakers to be put on display as a living example of the cost of war.—Wesley Horton
- This is NOT a remake of the 1970 film JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN which was directed by Dalton Trumbo. It is a filmed version of the one-person stage play adapted from the novel and shot in 2007 starring Ben McKenzie - on-stage. The original 1982 Off-Broadway production starred a then 28 yr. old Jeff Daniels, who won an Obie Award for his performance of this stage monologue. Although this filmed version of the stage play was released in art houses in 2008, it was never intended by the filmmaker to be a remake of the original movie but rather as it was marketed a "live on stage, on film" version of the Off-Broadway play. It was shot in the same style and manner as Lars von Trier's DOGVILLE. Ben McKenzie's performance was hailed by Film Journal International, Variety and Marshall Fine, the then President of the prestigious NY Film Critics Circle. It is a film version of a stage monologue, with a riveting performance by Mc Kenzie.—Rowan Joseph
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