Walk the Line (Sweet Sassy Molassy Remix)

A beautiful film.

Prompted by to be relevant's cherished comment, I have decided to expound.

Prior to watching the movie "Walk the Line", I have had very minimal exposure to Johnny Cash. I don't recall hearing any of his songs until two years ago. The one evidence I have of my knowledge of his existence before then is a memorized fragment of a rap lyric:

"Johnny Blaze, out to get loot like Johnny Cash,
play a game of Russian Roulette and have a blast"

by Method Man on 2Pac's "Got My Mind Made Up".

Recently, I remember hearing Cash's rendition of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" and also seeing the song's music video. I used to listen to the NIN song in junior high. Cash basically spoke the words to the song, which did not impress me, but his deep, resounding voice had a magnetism that communicated a strong sense of empathy. Also, the music video was a moving short film, and after I viewed it, Cash's vocals made much more sense in that his elderly age was in plain view.

So, going into this film, I knew nothing of Cash's life, other than that he would eventually have success with his music, and, thanks to a cover of Relevant Magazine I peeped sometime ago, that Cash may have worshipped God. Relevant Magazine also put Beyonce on its cover, so it's use as spiritual x-ray machine is questionable to me.

I found the movie to be worth every dime I paid. It boasts excellent performances from Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who remarkably do their own singing in the film. Phoenix is stalwart as the troubled Cash, and Witherspoon is endearing as June Carter. The plot is well-paced and presented nicely. But beyond all of this, "Walk the Line" is a wonderful story of redemption. It is a engaging work of art that convincingly portrays universal elements of the spiritual journey with Jesus. As to be expected, the film does not address the central reality of Christ's supremacy, but instead presents an incomplete portrait of a man's life that can be adored for providing rich context in which to view God's might. It, like any good art, is in many ways like a nice picture frame.

Also contained in the film is a significant critique of the Church. I must say that my first instinct is to defend the Church, and I am sadly aware of the trend of rock-throwers that gain noteriety for bashing churches. But there is a healthy rebuke of some practices of the Church within this movie that is worth dwelling over. The movie displays the Church rigidly conforming to tradition instead of welcoming a fresh change of air. There is something to be said about the Church's needed role as a stabilizing force in society, so there will always be a tension between old trends and new ideas.

But ever since I realized I need to change my musical taste in order to pursue holiness, I've found myself wondering, "Where is the sad Christian music? Where is the depressed, broken believer's expression of sorrow? Where is the honest display of the hurt that the sin in this world causes?" During this movie, I found some answers. The soundtrack provided tastes of what I suspect is a banquet of authentic emotion.

I judge myself along with the Church. God has been doing an amazing work in humbling me over the past couple of weeks. I have been shown that in my zeal to develop a whole view of Christ, I took some shortcuts in the form of hasty assertions, premature judgements, and underdeveloped patterns of absolutism. God let me know that I am still young. I have been enjoying my newly-realized status with a greater understanding of grace and God's desire for man. Fearfully, I have begun questioning things I previously treated as established truths, such as the high moral call to the war in Iraq, the benefits of libertarian economic policy, and so forth. I am seeing that with Jesus as my house's foundation, there is nothing to resist in re-evaluating the window placement on the third floor.

Along with my new liberty, I find myself curious about the world of country music. My scorn for country has been replaced by a sense of the great value in the potential of this genre. I cannot ever see myself digging Kenny Chesney. He was on TV this past week and I wanted to clothesline him. But, fittingly, on Black Friday (a tale in itself), I picked up a Johnny Cash cd. It's like Jamie Fox said as Ray Charles about country music in "Ray" (which presents some of the same elements that "Walk the Line" does, albeit not as sucessfully):

"I love the stories."