Johnny Mad Dog (2008)

A cast of unknown performers are used in this drama about child soldiers fighting a war in an African country.

Director:

Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire

Writers:

Emmanuel Dongala (novel), Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire

Stars:

Christophe Minie, Daisy Victoria Vandy, Joseph Duo

5 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christophe Minie	...	Johnny Mad Dog
Daisy Victoria Vandy	...	Laokole
Joseph Duo	...	Never Die
Dagbeth Tweh	...	No Good Advice
Careen Moore	...	Fatmata - Lovelita
Mohammed Sesay	...	Butterfly
Barry Chernoh	...	Small Devil
Léo Boyeneh Kote	...	Pussy Cat
Maxwell Carter	...	Monsieur Kamara
Miatta Fahnbulleh	...	Madame Kamara (as Miata Fahnbulleh)
Terry Johnson	...	Joseph
Onismus Kamoh	...	Fofo
Lawrence King	...	Ibrahim
Massiata E. Kenneh	...	Tanya Toyo
Anthony King	...	Pere Ibrahim

Storyline

Johnny Mad Dog, maybe 15, leads a band of boy soldiers in a civil war in an unnamed African country. "Don't want to die? Don't be born" is one of their shouted mottoes. We follow Mad Dog and his crew - No Good Advice, Butterfly, Chicken Hair, and others - as they kill, pillage rape, interrogate, and terrorize on their march to the capital. They take a TV station and lead an assault on the President's residence. We also follow Laokole, about Johnny age, as she tries to hold together her family of brother and disabled father. Is there more than chaos and inhumanity here? At war since age 10, has Johnny anything inside?

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Plot Keywords:

tv station | boy | rape | civil war | child soldier | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] TFM Distribution [France]

Country:

France Belgium Liberia

Language:

Kru English

Release Date:

26 November 2008 (France)

Also Known As:

Džoni besni pas

Filming Locations:

Careysburg, Liberia

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$213,139

Company Credits

Production Co:

MNP Entreprise, Explicit Films, Scope Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Visa d'exploitation (en France) n° 113658

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Goofs

When the girl finds his wounded father, the location of the blood on Sleeveless shirt changes in the following scenes.

User Reviews

i have not seen in a VERY long time such a REALISTIC war-drama

the other reviewer bellow sums everything up pretty much as i would do overall. i just have to add that i like this much more then "city of God" mostly because there is no over-the-top acting here and this is much more expressive from a realistic point of view. also the 2 or 3 war scenes are also very raw with realistic common sense military tactics.

but the strength of this movie comes from its subject matter and from ALL the actors. watching this one realizes that there is no need for drama classes to become an "actor" if you were able to "play" the designed "role" beforehand...hands down to ALL the actors here(both girls and boys). the dramatization and the conclusion also stands out as well as all those little details abundant in many scenes.the dialogues are very raw and used in good realistic measure.

one warning to the viewer: the language spoken is an English African dialect, so you might have a need for a subtitled version. subtitles are already available for it on the net.