The Observer, November 18, 2005
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11
Following the path of a legend
What is a biopic? Well, the word is short for a biographic picture. If you've ever seen the movie Napoleon, then you've seen a biopic before (that's Napoleon, not Napoleon Dynamite). Walk the Line, a biopic on Johnny Cash, is a no-nonsense film detailing the life story of a true song legend. Given that this movie was deemed "true to the man," I believe it's more proper for me to write a tribute to J.R. Cash and not just another movie review. Music played in Johnny's favor at an early age and found a special place in his heart. Born and raised on a farm in Arkansas, music was first introduced to Cash in the form of gospel soul and southern blues. His musical talent shone brilliantly in his own focused words. Shortly after landing a contract with Sun records, Cash's career took off. Cash played with country soul legends Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis in some of his first performances.
Although Cash's lyrics seemed somewhat trivial and inconsequential, they expressed originality and sincerity. His life follows a trite story of a man whose instant fame and monetary success were notoriously followed by a slump of prodigal unwholesomeness. It's a story that's been told before. Sometimes the star recovers some sense of dignity through another run of success. Sometimes the celebrity falls from stardom to engage in a more esoteric life of selfless charity and repentance. But no matter what the outcome of the celebrity story may be, its significance is usually moot. Walk the Line had a beginning and an end. These were the parts that made this film different from the next celebrity's biography. The body of the film, his success story, was only marginally entertaining if at all. The real substance resided in the story of his childhood.
If I could divide the story of Johnny Cash into three major interconnected parts they would be the celebrity, the singer, the man. The man and the singer together distinguished J.R. from the rest of the pack. He almost always performed in black from head to toe. Cash once wrote a song about his gloomy attire:
"I wear it for the sick and lonely old,For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold, I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been, Each week we lose a hundred fine young men."
Cash (played in the film by Joaquin Phoenix) eventually merged the man with the singer when he wrote his own lyrics. Most of us probably know Cash from the song The Ring of Fire, written in-part by his wife June Carter (Reese Witherspoon).
Cash continued to perform in front of sold-out crowds into his 70s. Cash passed away on May 15, 2003, at the age of 71, due to complications with diabete, four months after his wife June Carter had died. The movie began production before Cash's death; Cash was apparently a great fan of Joaquin Phoenix's performance in Gladiator and was very excited about the movie.
Walk the Line is a film about a legend that most people seeing will be familiar with, which could have been dangerous, had the film not been so well made. Walk the Line is a great commemoration of a great man.
