On "John's Not Mad", And Why The Duke Loves DVD - Page 3

And then, like as if they didn't even know how fucking earth-shattering such news would be, this month's Fortean Times featured in it's review section a tiny piece on the recently released John's Not Mad. In other words, the 1989 original documentary. And oh yeah, it had most of the follow-up on it as an extra.

A lightening fast excursion to Play.com and two days of impatient waiting later, The Duke once again gets to witness this triumph of the human spirit, and of Documentary filmmaking.

The original film is heartbreaking. We see John eating his school dinner in an otherwise empty classroom, as the rest of the school laugh and joke and feast in the canteen. He sits there, chewing on a roll, spitting bits out on occasion, letting the occasional yelp or "Fuck! Cunt!" out of his mouth, afraid to attempt this ordeal in front of anyone else.

We hear of how teachers would present John in front of his class, explaining that he "should be locked up." We hear about his grandmother, who thinks he should go to church and confess his sins, since he's obviously possessed by some demon or other.

At times, you laugh at John's outbursts. Sometimes it's quite funny when you see him yell "Fat cunt" at a classmate, whilst the rest of the pupils try to carry-on as normal.

In every other way, John is just an average 16-year old kid. He just happens to spit his food out and swear uncontrollably.

It's funny at times, but it's incredibly distressing also. When we first see John's mum, she's on the telephone to the local police, explaining her son's condition, following a threat of arrest for breach of the peace. Police don't like having "Fat Fuck" shouted at them, never mind in the middle of a crowded street in broad daylight.

I was a bit disappointed to see that The Boy Can't Help It had been included here in an abridged version, shortened to 34 minutes. I had presumed this meant that all the footage from the 89 piece would be eliminated, which wasn't such a big deal considering the entire program is the main feature on the disc. It transpires that every piece of John-related footage, the bulk of the film, is here, but the sub-plot from the original broadcast, which featured an utterly harrowing story about a six year old boy who was afflicted with the condition, has been excised. It's a shame. It was incredibly powerful material, watching as a young boy ticked and shouted, crying in between outbursts, unable to fathom his dilemma. At one point the father explained, as best he could, how it felt to have a 6-year-old boy explain that he wanted to kill himself.

Article Author: Duke De Mondo

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