Walk the Line

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters (Joaquin Phoenix)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

Joaquin Phoenix gets my vote for Best Actor, having seen the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line, but my admiration for the movie goes beyond acting. Here, the fictionalized rise to fame of Cash doesn’t get much polish—Cash is no saint, no choir boy. But the beauty of the movie (call me crazy) is that there is a story of human fall and redemption involved that rises above one individual’s story, beyond the movie’s focus on Johnny Cash, rockstar. This movie works because it strives to define the roots of human failure, even as it highlights the very definition of salvation and redemption.

We learn early on that Johnny knows all the hymns, but that his brother, Jack, is the ‘good’ one because he knows all the Scriptures. Jack’s untimely death, and Johnny’s indirect involvement, drive his father, Ray (wickedly played by Robert Patrick), to cry out that Satan is in control because the wrong son was taken. Not much pressure to live with AS A TWELVE YEAR OLD! Ray is a hard-working, hard-drinking farmer who Johnny wants to relate to but whom he can never please. He represents the past that Johnny can’t get away from and embodies the voice (in all of us) that says you’ll never be good enough, you’re not worth it.

Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin) becomes Cash’s first wife, even after Johnny doesn’t really ‘measure up’ to her father or her expectations…and this spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E. The Cashs have children together, and she definitely stays longer than one might expect, from the very beginning of their marriage, it is obvious that Vivian and Johnny are aimed at different goals. Vivian wants Johnny to have a safe, steady job while Johnny dreams of singing his songs for other people. And we know where this is going, because it’s the story of Johnny Cash.

The first song Cash wants to record gets shot down as ‘gospel,’ and ‘gospel just won’t sell.’ The recording studio boss tells him to play the song he would sing if he was lying in the gutter about to die, with one song to show God and other people what he was all about. From this launching point, Cash’s passionate pursuit of life through music goes public. It seems that in this crucial moment, the gospel (used broadly) is being presented by Johnny to the world, without sounding gospel-like. Rather than being ‘gospel-lite,’ the songs of Johnny Cash present the place where life, love and God cross paths—a tradition embraced now by U2, Switchfoot, and others.

Of course, there wouldn’t be a movie if Cash’s life was all roses. He struggles (and loses) with alcohol, prescription drugs, and lusting after random women, driving a wedge within his own family and damaging his own soul. June Carter (Reese Witherspoon) rebuffs his advances (at first) and challenges him to take control of his own life. After she has surrendered to his lure, she attempts to intervene with his drug use but he spirals downward until he has lost everything. His drug use still appears to be an attempt to dull the pain of his brother’s loss and his father’s loathing, but for a man with so much to lose, he still couldn’t make the decision to change.

A baptism by water and tractor finally allows June the moment she needs to intervene…literally. Having survived withdrawal, Johnny looks June in the eyes endearingly, only to hear her say, ‘God gave you a second chance; what are you going to do with it?’ Here, tough love serves to be the necessary tool by which Cash will be freed of his sins and the sins of others. June Carter loves Johnny unconditionally, in ways that we (and she) may not understand. She exhibits the gospel of love and forgiveness could not be more fully depicted. The two attend church, he stays drug-free, and their marriage (it’s history!) become fact.

Walk the Line provides more than a backstage pass to Johnny Cash, rock star—it provides the testament of a life wrecked and rebuilt that many will understand. We all have someone or something we’d like to be, but haven’t been yet. We all have demons in our closet or under our bed or in pictures on the wall that hold us back from who we hope to be. The truth of Johnny Cash’s story is in the failure, because that makes the success of who he was even more sweet. I hope that anyone who reads this review and all who see the movie will see a man who made mistakes, who was loved unconditionally and recognized that love, and embraced humility in celebrating new life.

—Overview