More tears are shed over answered than unanswered prayers..

This is what Truman Capote wrote in the preface of his last, unfinished book. Dying from complications of alcoholism and not being able to finish another book after the tremendous success of his non-fictional book ‘’In Cold Blood’’, Capote seems to know what he was talking about when writing about the consequences of realizing our dreams. Of course he was not the only one. American authors dealt a lot with the unbearable and often destructive insistence of people to conquer the American Dream. The ‘’from-rugs-to-riches’’ philosophy, so inherent in the American conscience, created ‘’The Great Gatsby’’, the ‘’Death of a Salesman’’ and ‘’Moby Dick’’ (the pillars of the American Literature for most, and definitely three of the most canonized books ever) While I was watching recently ‘Capote’, I couldn’t help thinking of another film that I watched a few days earlier and in my mind its echo joined the images of ‘Capote’.

-And what’s with the black, Johnny? It’s like going to a funeral.
-Maybe I am…

Johnny Cash’s life would sooner or later become a film. It included fame, success, love, drugs, rebirth..do you see Ron Howard coming? Fortunately, Ron Howard did not direct ‘Walk the Line’. Now, not that he is a bad director. It is just that he has this obsession with success stories and with greater-than-life heroes that always find their happy ending. Cinderella men. Like a recipe, he mixes all the correct elements and he has the guaranteed success. Luckily for some of us who cannot be easily carried away, there is a Russell Crowe who refuses to enter the limited space of Howard’s predetermined route and creates three-dimensional characters. Like Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix is one of these few precious actors who have the ability to explode the screen only with their eyes. (And that makes us see the ‘Gladiator’ with a fresh look) There is one scene where the director James Mangold bridges effectively the gap between Cash’s childhood and his early twenties. In the final scene of Cash as a boy, we see him lying in the bed, rejected once again by his father and bearing an imposed guilt for his elder brother tragic end, gazing into the void with a heart-breaking look that only kids can have. And the next thing you know is Joaquin Phoenix, in the exact same position and with the same look in his eyes before he sets off for the army. It is in this moment when we are allowed an insight into Johnny Cash, when we suspect that this man will always carry a sad and insecure child in him. I have to be honest. Before the film, I didn’t know a lot about Johnny Cash; I haven’t even seen a picture of him. And I know that the Johnny Cash in ‘Walk the Line’ is not the real one but rather a glimpse of him. It is the Johnny Cash that James Mangold and Joaquin Phoenix have perceived and decided to portray. But isn’t this the case with every biopic? Fair enough. James Mangold doesn’t always avoid the traps of a Ron Howard attitude towards his material but there are instances where his passion can be seen. I particularly cherish his choice of beginning the film with the concert at Folsom Prison, building a tension with the music and the clapping and rhythmical tapping of the prisoners, a tension that rises as everybody is waiting for Johnny Cash’s appearance on the stage but not reaching a crescendo; it is canalized to the rest of the film until the moment that the concert actually takes place. ‘Hello, I am Johnny Cash’ he will say and the audience will cheer his name. But in our minds, a previous image will stay: The image of Cash’s first appearance to the public, almost hiding behind his guitar and with the half-smile that only Phoenix’s scarred upper lip can produce in his face, shyly saying the same words. Cash was an alcoholic and a drug addict in the first stage of his success, maybe because it was too big, too soon and he was unprepared for it. He managed to overcome it though and to realize that he should stop being a captive of an image if he wanted to have a chance to happiness. The film shows how he handled these issues and celebrates his love with June Carter Cash. Even this love story would run the risk of becoming another epic, conventional romance if it wasn’t for the almost tangible alliance between Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix. If there is one line that reveals the essence of Johnny Cash and would be enough to gain my respect for him, it would be the following: When his record company manager tries to dissuade him from singing at Folsom Prison with the argument that his fans were gospel people who wouldn’t like him to sing for murderers and rapists, Cash’s answer was ‘Then they are not Christians’