Captain Johnno
Captain Johnno is a telemovie from the Australian Touch the Sun series. The film is quite famous in Australia and in the 1988 won the International Emmy Award. It`s main protagonist is the partly deaf 10 year old Johnno. He lives with his family in a small fishing town. His sisters help him at school and keep the local bullies away from him.
Johnno’s life changes when his sister has to depart to a boarding school. Johnno fears that he won’t be able to manage without her and tries to convince his parents not let her go or to let him go with her. He doesn’t yet know that they are considering sending him to a special school for people with hearing disabilities. When he finds out, he runs away and sails to a nearby island where he plans to live a Robinson Crusoe style life away from the complex problems of sociaty.
This film raises a number of issues about family life and it’s conflicts, responsibilities and adjustments. In addition there are 3 main characters relationships which one should pay attention to as they are important for the plot development. The first one is between Johnno and his sisters. She is there for him, but one day has to leave and this distresses him. Their parting scene with her crying in the back seat of the bus and him running after her is one of the most emotional cinema scenes I have ever seen.
The second important relationship is the friendship of Johnno and an Italian immigrant, Tony who is a newcomer to Australia and can not speak English well. They form a strong bond because in a way, they are both outsiders and the object of ridicule by others. Tony is glad to have a friend like Johnno, he listens to the boy and respects him for who he is.
The third relationship viewers should focus on is the one between Johnno and his father. While it is clear that the parent’s love their son, his father, in my opinion behaved like a moron. He did not even know his son and in a way the viewer could sense his shame from Johnno’s disability. He never listens to what his son has to say or tries to understand what he means if deafness has anything to do with Johnno’s thinking abilities. Even if at the end of the film his father reconsiders his attitude towards his son, I myself could never completely forgive him. But I guess that’s something you would have to see and judge for yourself .
The acting in the film was quite good. Damien Walters is in the role of Johnno and delivered a performance which made me wonder how is it possible to portray a deaf boy so realistically. I later found out that the young actor is deaf himself. Another leaving a large impression on me was the acting abilities of Joe Petruzzi in the role of the Italian immigrant.
Overall I liked the film. It has many life lessons both for its characters and its viewers. The film is quite emotional and I think that many of the fans of the coming of age genre would appreciate it. A similar flick is the British film Dear Frankie which I also recommend.
Several video clips are available at the Australian Screen`s web site .
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Wanted (1994) Short film review: 
Review of the coming of age classic book Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon . Audio review of the book is included in the article.
I remember watching the trailer to the movie “Time of the gypsies” (Dom za vesanje), in where there is a short scene when a young boy has to depart from his mother to go to the city for a longer time to work (I think). Though I still haven´t seen the full length film, I haven´t forgotten the strong feeling of sadness in that departuring scene. If someone wants me to cry (which I never do of course) he just has to show me a film with such a scene I guess.
I think this seems like a film that I would like to watch. It is a very good review with not just describing the plot but also analyzing the story. I have never known anyone who´s deaf and don´t know how it would be like to have a deaf friend, but I guess I would learn to communicate very soon. Well I will write a better comment after watching this movie!
I tend to write reviews who depart a bit from the standard of just showing the plot – as for those things there are sites such as IMDB where one can just look the title up. Plus my blog started like a personal one and even if it shifted its focus to movies – it never lost that personal touch – in everything I write. I can only hope that the visitors of TheSkyKid.com like that fact – it seems that you do judging from your comment .
Thank you,
SkyKid
[...] ” The Interrogation of Michael Crowe” – another example is the Australian film “Captain Johnno” which I reviewed recenly in theskykid.com. Another good made for TV movie is Feather Boy [...]
[...] Captain Johnno [...]
Thank your for sharing your opinion on Captain Johnno , Billy. I agree with you that the movie was well made – what most impressed me was the performance of Joe Petruzzi. I haven`t seen any other film from the Touch the Sun series – but would fix that mistake soon. The DVD is indeed hard to find – I received it from CVMC – who supply DVDs to me – so I can review them and more people could discover those wonderful films . You can check their site and if you decide to purchase the film – mention my blog in the comments – this would give you 10 % discount .
Hope that you enjoy the skykid.com and would be contributing on my reviews and posts – I always appreciate when my readers share their opinion to the community .
Yours ,
SkyKid
20 years past when i saw the movie and i will never forget
its one of my big drama i have passed
i will suggest you do not miss this movie at any reason any time any where the whole Touch the Sun series its very good
the only problem is how to find this movie unfortunately this movie its very rare and difficult to find
my opinion is 10/10
Thank your for sharing your opinion on Captain Johnno , Billy. I agree with you that the movie was well made – what most impressed me was the performance of Joe Petruzzi. I haven`t seen any other film from the Touch the Sun series – but would fix that mistake soon. The DVD is indeed hard to find – I received it from CVMC – who supply DVDs to me – so I can review them and more people could discover those wonderful films . You can check their site and if you decide to purchase the film – mention my blog in the comments – this would give you 10 % discount .
Hope that you enjoy the skykid.com and would be contributing on my reviews and posts – I always appreciate when my readers share their opinion to the community .
Yours ,
SkyKid
20 years past when i saw the movie and i will never forget
its one of my big drama i have passed
i will suggest you do not miss this movie at any reason any time any where the whole Touch the Sun series its very good
the only problem is how to find this movie unfortunately this movie its very rare and difficult to find
my opinion is 10/10
[...] если интересно, то можно подробнее прочитать на сайте theskykid.com, там, кстати, можно и посмотреть скриншоты из фильма и [...]