Captain Johnno

A children's tale which illustrates silent life in a world dripping with sound. Quaint, moving, and often humorous, it centres on partially-deaf 12-year-old Johnno (Walters, himself deaf). The setting is a small coastal town where Johnno spends every available moment skin-diving - anything to take his mind off a clumsy, uncaring father (Waters) and taunting classmates. Only his mother (Fawdon) and sister (Sykes) marginally understand his closed world, and new depression comes with his sister's imminent departure for boarding school. Cue the arrival of Italian migrant Tony (Petruzzi) - equally ridiculed for his lack of English - and the start of a close friendship. When father plans his enrolment in a special school, however, Johnno ups and runs...Waters and Fawdon excepted, the performances are quite excellent (Petruzzi especially), and for low-budget film-making, it really drums the message home.