Cash vs Ray, Booze vs Heroin, guts vs soul

Rating: 7/10 (10 December 2005)

When I was a boy I visited a friend in Germany whose father had the unsettling name of Adolf. He spoke very little English and he used to sit in his great-chair and listen to Johnny Cash, hour after hour. The music never grabbed me, but it sure grabbed him, seven thousand miles away in another land. So when the film came out I was overjoyed. Finally a chance to solve the mystery of why Cash was so appealing. I felt like I was about to be initiated into a secret society. Nobody would go with me so I went alone. I wore black.
I can't help but compare this musician biopic to last year's Ray. I loved Ray so very much as a film. His music was more my speed than country but the film too was a warm and loving portrayal of a man who absolutely adored his music. Ray was a musical genius, a kind soul, someone I would be friends with if I had the chance. I wasn't half way through Walk the Line when I knew, Cash was no Ray. He was angry, depressed, violent, disrespectful, and destructive. But he didn't have a fraction of the talent that Ray had to redeem himself with: Cash was not a musical genius. He just had balls. And both Cash and Ray were haunted by their childhood, and they were both addicts. But Cash was addicted to the far less exotic booze and pills rather than Ray's pot and opium. Ray was high but Cash was always low.
Walk the Line was a hard film to watch although in the end I wanted the singer to find success or at least love. This was a mean guy that I shouldn't care about or invest in, but I did, so that much of the film worked. I don't think I'll listen to his music, but I understand better whey Adolf did.