A great Hollywood love story with the South glossed over

Rating: 8/10 (22 October 2005)

I had a chance to see a pre-screening of Walk the Line a few days ago. Ultimately, it was a solid Hollywood film with great performances by Reece Witherspoon & Joaquin Phoenix. Yet, being a die-hard Johnny Cash fan from Arkansas, I was hoping for more on his development as a musician & struggle with his Christian faith. His faith in God & roots in gospel music carried him from childhood throughout his career. Johnny Cash made scores of records recalling scripture & hymns he found solace in his darkest hours. If you want to understand the context of his conflicts, you simply cannot leave faith out of the equation. I was left in want for the texture of the South which I grew up in, where people are as in touch with their surroundings as they are with themselves. In the film, Undertow, there's a beautiful three minute monologue about chiggers as a child sits barefoot on a riverbank. Perhaps taking cues from Terence Malick, John Boorman or David Gordon Green might have helped capture the subtlety which could have made this film truly great.