CNS Movie Review: Walk the Line

Walk the Line

By Harry Forbes
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Just as Jamie Foxx astonished the world with his uncanny portrayal of Ray Charles in last year's "Ray," and Kevin Spacey offered a spot-on vocal impersonation of Bobby Darin in the less-distinguished (though entertaining) "Beyond the Sea," Joaquin Phoenix now delivers a brilliant dramatic and vocal turn as late country music legend Johnny Cash.

From the thrilling opening-credit sequence, which plays out over increasingly rhythmic clapping leading to Cash's groundbreaking concert at Folsom Prison, "Walk the Line" (20th Century Fox) is a superior biopic that traces Cash's tumultuous early life from his unhappy childhood through his conquering a drug dependency and his decadelong courtship of singer June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), culminating in a marriage that would last 35 years.

The main story begins with Cash's Arkansas childhood, when he was traumatized by the accidental death of his older brother in an electrical saw accident (a parallel to "Ray," wherein young Charles saw his brother drown), and the subsequent coldness of his sharecropper father (Robert Patrick), who feels "the Devil" took the "wrong son." Johnny would spend his life trying to win his father's love.

An overseas Air Force stint in 1952 -- during which we see him noodling with song composition -- leads to an unfulfilling first marriage with hometown girl Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin), who has little patience for his singing aspirations, and encourages him to be a salesman, a task for which he is plainly unskilled.

But after an audition for Sam Phillips (Dallas Roberts) of Sun Records, who's indifferent to Cash's perfunctory gospel-flavored tune and talks him into singing from the heart, Johnny tentatively begins an impromptu rendition of one of his own compositions, building in power, and Phillips is duly impressed.

He makes his first record that day, and "Cry, Cry, Cry" quickly becomes a hit with the public. He goes on tour and meets sassy and funny singer June of the singing Carter Family, whom he has idolized since childhood. (Witherspoon proves as adept as Phoenix in the singing department.)

Her empathetic manner -- distinctly missing from Vivian in the film's interpretation -- leads Johnny to feel a warm attraction, though June, coming off a painful divorce, resists. The film makes clear that both are trying to do the right thing, though Johnny manifests an aching longing for the comfort he feels June could provide.

In time, his unsatisfying domestic situation and the rigors of touring lead to abuse of pills and alcohol, and (it is implied) womanizing.

He achieves notoriety when he is arrested by customs officials who discover a stash of amphetamines at the Mexican border.

Eventually, his downward spiral is stopped by June's caring intervention.

Director James Mangold deftly balances the drama with plenty of good music, making for first-rate entertainment, though without quite maintaining the tension Taylor Hackford did with "Ray." The storytelling arc here is just not as strong as in that film.

Phoenix surpasses all his fine prior work with this heart-wrenching, Oscar-worthy acting, and Witherspoon matches him scene for scene.

The music scene of the time is entertainingly recreated with fair-to-middling impersonations of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and others.

Cash is shown to have a solid religious background, as a child speaking in reverential tones about the Bible and the hymnal with his beloved brother, and later as a burgeoning musician, attempting material with a strong gospel flavor, such as "I Know Why Jesus Saved Me."

It must be said that the romance, however touching, between Carter and the still-married Cash is naggingly problematic from a basic moral, as much as a Catholic, perspective. Mangold and co-scriptwriter Gill Dennis are careful not to paint Vivian as a villain but they clearly stack the story in favor of Carter.

Still, "Walk the Line" remains an inspiring story of triumph over private demons, with a redemptive ending that underscores the healing power of forgiveness, God's and our own.

The film contains some rough and crude language, ethnic slurs, scenes of domestic violence, drug and alcohol use, and an extramarital relationship. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

END

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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