JOHNNY AND JUNE
Walk the Line is a fascinating look at the lives and careers of Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash. It’s more a love story than an in-depth history of the performers’ musical journeys, but you’ll probably like the movie if you’re a Cash fan. The film opens when Johnny is about eleven years old, and he and his older brother are going fishing. The brother is killed, and their father, who loves the older boy more, blames Johnny and never lets him forget it. This negativity on his father’s part is an albatross on Johnny’s back and is a partial cause of his later excessive behavior and addiction to prescription medications.
What the picture doesn’t emphasize is that Cash eventually became a committed Christian. Much more could have been made of his conversion. Nonetheless, Christianity is respected and not denigrated. One of the movie’s best lines occurs when a pastor tells Johnny in Pharisee-like fashion that his church backers won’t support his going to Folsom Prison and associating with the worst kinds of criminals. Cash responds, “Then they’re not Christians.”
The beauty of Walk the Line is that it’s a story of redemption and healing: Johnny comes to faith (implied but not shown), kicks his drug habit, and forgives his father. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon give awesome performances — perhaps the best this year. They do all their own vocals and seemingly are the characters they portray.
Warning: Not for children or younger teenagers.
Film Rating: PG-13
My Rating: 3 ¼ stars.
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