"Walk the Line": Sinning, Demons and Salvation

"Walk the Line" is a story with a couple of different dimensions. On one level, it's a classic, though very 20th century flavored, love story about two souls who seem destined to be together despite multiple hardships and personal conflicts. On another, it's the story of the saving power of love and one man's descent and emergence from a very personal hell.

The film begins in 1944 Arkansas, where the adolescent Cash and his older brother are growing up in the shadow of their harsh, alcoholic father who favors the older brother over Cash. An accident with a power saw mortally wounds the older boy and Cash's father comments that God "took the wrong son", a comment and an attitude that is destined to leave terrible psychological scars on the young Cash. Only Cash's love for his mother and their shared interest in music seems to get the boy through his time spent at home, and when he is old enough he enlists in the Army. His father seems unfazed by this move, though his other family members are saddened and will miss him.

Cash marries shortly after his stint in the military is finished and begins a family. He works as a door to door salesman, but pursues his interest in music at the same time, forming a gospel band that practices on his back porch. Times are hard for the Cash family and Cash's wife, Vivian is frustrated by the time her husband spends on his true passion, wishing instead he would concentrate on landing a more safe and profitable job.

In a scene that really reveals the depth of star Joaquin Phoenix's talent, Cash at last lands an audition with legendary country music producer Sam Phillips. Phillips doesn't think much of Cash's gospel music, and challenges Cash to present him something from the heart, something that will hit people where they live. Cash hesitates, then proceeds to launch into "Folsom Prison Blues" a song he wrote while in the service. Almost begrudingly, Phillips is impressed and soon Cash and his band are making a record and signing to Phillips' label.

Things will never again be the same for Cash, as he now begins his rise and fall journey highlighted by his soulful pursuit of June Carter's love, his battle with drug addiction and his struggle with the demons in his past.

Phoenix is phenomenal in the role, almost eerily capturing Cash's slow drawl, physical mannerisms and his singing voice. But more importantly, he conveys the essential character of the man; his tormented relationship with his father (Robert Patrick in a very strong, menacing role), his longing for his lost brother, and his dogged pursuit of the one true love of his life, his soulmate June Carter. There are really some powerhouse emotional scenes here; Cash's manic, drug addled attempt at "Stripes" just before he collapses, his confrontation with Vivian over his relationship with June, his clear torment over his need for June and his guilt from neglecting his family, all played out onstage; his truly chilling Thanksgiving clash with his father. It's a role that screams "Oscar nomination", but Phoenix never seems to be pursuing this purposefully or showboating. He is fine in the smaller moments too; his first meaningful chat with June in a diner, his tentative attempts to seduce her, and his obvious pain when he is home off the road and realizing this isn't the life he wants.

Reese Witherspoon is also terrific as June Carter; bubbly and infectiously upbeat in her public persona but deeply moral and fiercely loyal in her private one. Like Cash, Carter has a strong Christian background against which she always measures her behavior and which sometimes clashes with her personal experiences. She seems to be battling her obvious attraction to this self-destructive man, and seems to be drug kicking and screaming into a relationship that can only be accurately described as fated. I particularly liked the scenes onstage between her and Cash, where there seems to be a special kind of energy that can't be dampened by anything that occurs offstage, as if they have their own private bubble of paradise that can't be intruded upon. It's fitting that so many of the film's most important moments seem to occur when Cash is onstage; his collapse, his coaxing of Carter to sing with him for the first time, and his eventual onstage proposal.

"Walk the Line" is a powerful story that transcends the country music industry or even the life of Johnny Cash to become a tale of fated love, fall from grace and eventual redemption through the power of love. That it is based on fact makes it all the more resonant and meaningful, and for me, enjoyable.