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Contents © 2005
by Jim Holman.
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TALK ABOUT MOVIES
December 2005
WALK THE LINE
Directed by James Mangold. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon. USA, Color, English, 136 minutes, 2005. Now in theaters.
Ernie: The plot has a tough obstacle to overcome, namely, his descent into drug abuse and womanizing, followed by his eventual overcoming of those problems. The problem is that we've heard that story a million times over, from both rock and country musicians. Strangely, instead of summarizing it, they made it the focus of the film.
Matthew: Put that way, it is a familiar story, but I think the presentation here is different. He never gets to revel in the debauchery, because he's haunted by his love for June, among other things. When he sings his tribute to fidelity, "I Walk the Line," we're led to see that it's sung to her -- she's the one who said, "You can't walk no line" -- and not his wife. She's what he wants, but she won't have him. At first, he's too weak to change.
Ernie: His first wife is presented as someone he married because it was the thing to do -- he never knew her well, never really knew what he was getting into. He tries to keep it up for a while, but he's too weak for that as well.
Matthew: He's weak in general. He's had so much cut out from under him -- first, the death of his brother, and then his father's judgment that God took the wrong son. June is his angel, the one who can bring him salvation and love. But she's not pure grace. She has her own trials, and they make her too wise to try to play savior to him. She'll flush his pills and see him through the rough spells, but that's not enough to make her marry him.
Ernie: Much is made of the prison themes in his music. It's portrayed as almost an obsession for him, one that leads him to produce his famous Folsom Prison live album. What's the source of the fascination?
Matthew: Crime and punishment. The suffering of the man who knows he's guilty, but is still suffering all the same, and who longs for some comfort in spite of his guilt.