John, 316

At a psychiatric hospital in middle America a no-name drifter (Colin Matty) is brought in by the police, covered in a white sheet because he was naked. While he is likable and his eccentric ways win over the patients, the faculty isn't so sure (Afton Rentz, Griffin Cork, etc.), especially when a new boss takes over (Darrell Portz).

"John, 316" (2020) is a mental hospital drama that's naturally reminiscent of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975), but with a supernatural element similar to "The Green Mile" (1999) and a protagonist who recalls Toni Collette of "The Sixth Sense" (1999).

It's amazing this only cost $75,000 (or $100,000 in Canadian dollars) because it's a worthy drama with entertaining bits and potent insights. Sure, it's not on the level of "Cuckoo's Nest" or "Green Mile," but I prefer it to "Sixth Sense" for several reasons. You get to know the characters and buy them as real people. Only Portz hams it up a bit, but it fits his antagonistic role.

The spiritual points connected with me and they're way more than just what relates to the title. I'm not going to give 'em away, yet they're there for all to see; you just have to look beyond society's programming (brainwashing). One simple scene could easily be missed it's so mundane, but it speaks deep cosmic truth.

The movie runs 1 hour, 43 minutes, and was shot in Alberta, Canada, at Alberta Beach & Edmonton (hospital). Alberta Beach is about 45 miles west of the big city.

GRADE: B+/A-

How is this possible? How did no one look at the poster and ask themselves before saying "Print" that showing the ostensible Savior's enhanced bum was a horrible, horrible idea. The trailer, too, is abysmal. Do yourself a favor and skip this nonsense.

The appearance suggests this to be another low budget Christian movie. The title, picture, trailer, no name actors and low reviews are intended to suck in Christians.

But this movie does not proclaim to made by Christians or for Christians as surely as John never proclaims to be Jesus Christ. Be warned, even if this movie has a somewhat redemptive ending, it is not a Christian movie. Pervasive swearing and implied sex is not found in Christian movies. Writers today feel it helps ratings to make things 'real'.

On a positive note, this movie does expose the harsh reality of how mental illness, psychiatric administration and ultimately big pharma has misbehaved in the past. I can only hope we are getting better.

Don´t let the large number of awards fool you, but let words as Salvation, Alpacalypse Productions and Higher Universe Pictures do the talking for them instead. What we have here is a demonicly clever apparantly realistic build-up, in which factual problem of overmedicating in the healthcare sector for Pharma profits is gradually twisted and abused into a plot that declares mental illness as being nothing but a sheer matter of a lack of faith, and which therefor claims that all medication would be entirely unnessesary and dedundant if patients with a mentale disorder would only turn themselves into the care of the lord. This product should at least be distributed under a clear label of fiction, and should actually better still be marked as a potential hazard to public health.

I thought this looked like it might be interesting and it could have been if it had better writers.

The problem is, you do not really see much of the John character and his miracles are few and not really that interesting.

Contrary to the other reviewers I think the acting is not that bad from the main characters but without anything to work with script-wise, it was all a bit of a damp squib to be honest and soon became a bit crusty and monochromatic so I cannot really recommend it and giving it 4 stars may be a bit generous!