… I Walk the Line …

Friday night, we saw the new biopic Walk the Line, about Johnny Cash. I have to admit to start that I actually knew very little about Johnny Cash, and what I did know was that Bono, and the boys of U2 were big fans, Cash providing lead vocals for a track on U2’s 1993 Zooropa album (The Wanderer). After seeing the preview for the film a little earlier in the year, I decided that it would be a good picture to have a look at. I wasn’t disappointed. After seeing the film, I bought the soundtrack which featured the songs, sung by the cast, which sounded great.

The film begins at the concert in Folsom Prison, with Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) about to go onstage, then flashes back to the days on his parent’s farm, through to his second marriage, to June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). It is a sad and honest story, filled with heartache; the death of his brother in a saw mill accident, his estrangement from his father, his failed marriage to his first wife, Vivian and drug-addiction, but containing some memorable highs of Cash’s life too (the concert in Folsom Prison).

The subtle references to Cash’s songs in the film were beautifully done, from Cash writing Folsom Prison Blues while in the airforce, and walking pass a boy shinning shoes (Get Rhythm) and Carter beginning to write Ring of Fire. The stage chemistry between Carter and Cash was fantastic especially when they covered Dylan’s It Ain’t Me, Babe. Cash proposed to Carter on stage, and it did make me wonder what their marriage would be like – yet history tells us they remained married until Carter’s death in 2003.

Does the film downplay the fact that Cash was a Christian? Perhaps, but I’m not sure I mind. Glimpses of his faith are seen in the film; including comments he makes before the concert at Folsom Prison about Christians turned off by him singing in the prison were not really Christians and (a scene which lasted longer in F’s memory than in mine); after a tractor accident on his property, where he falls into the lake, Cash says he needs to visit his Father, and we see him walk into church.

I wonder if there is something to be said for leaving it subtle so viewers can explore the story on their own.