Immediately after watching this film i couldn't have told you if i thought it was a good film. A month of so on that hasn't changed.I do know i hated watching it. Johnny Mad Dog is one of those gruelling, deeply unpleasant viewing experiences that i wouldn't wish on anyone and have almost noone i can recommend it to. But does that make it a bad film - no not necessarily.
It is perhaps a brutally realistic look at guerilla warfare, the futility of both such situations but also of trying to stand in there way or talk round the participants. The film at times seems in love with its murderous, uncompassionate, angry, rapist youth characters, but at others casts an almost condemning eye. Played like a documentary with the kind of footage that would never actually be possible the film is undeniably visceral. The impact on your senses while watching and state of mind after is powerful.
Certainly there is a place for such film. It is no doubt important they are made and that people see them. If they affect one person the way the filmmakers intended then perhaps that's enough. It is horribly stark film to watch though. No character has any redeeming features nor any charisma. And so i won't say it is a bad film, that would be for better people than me to assess no doubt, but i will say i hated watching it (and i'm not one that has a problem with non-entertaining subject matter - Tony Kaye's Lake Of Fire, about abortion, is the best documentary i have ever seen and i would gladly rewatch it). This one is for limited viewing but will likely have its champions.
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