Walk The Line

Walk the Line, starring Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix, is an Academy awards best actress and actor winning film for 2005. It is based on the true life story of Johnny Cash since his childhood till his marriage to June Carter. It is a biopic that attempts to comprehensively tell Johnny Cash’s life story or at least the most historically important years of his life. It depicts his hatred towards his alcoholic father that affected him since his childhood and helped in forming this legend. It also focuses on the time when Johnny cash joined the air force, where he composed his first song “Folsom Prison Blues”. It also deals with the husband-wife relationship. It also dramatises Johhny’s first audition in an extraordinary scene. The movie sheds light on love among the emembers of June Carter’s religious family. It also deals with the love story of Johnny Cash and June Carter, and how it drove Johnny Cash to addiction to forget about his miserable life. It also sheds light on religious ideas like forgiveness and divorce.
“Walk The Line” is a title of a song for Johnny Cash. It is about Cash staying faithful to his wife whereas she is on the road: I find it very, very easy to be true / I find myself alone when each day is through / Yes, I’ll admit that I’m a fool for you / Because you’re mine / I walk the line. Along the whole movie we find a collection of Johnny Cash’s wonderful songs. Every song in the movie represents a period of his life. “Folsom Prison Blues” represents his childhood growing up in a prison, as he grew up with an alcoholic father in the house which led him to shut himself up in his room listening to music.
The movie takes place in Folsom prison in the year 1956, where Johnny was in the back stage staring at an electric saw. From this moment on the action starts to develop in a flash back, and it takes us to the year 1936 to Arkensas, where Johnny Cash spent his miserable childhood starting by the horrific death of his older brother Jack in 1944. Time passed on and he joined the air force and left to Germany. Then he fell in love in 1954, married Vivian and lived with her in Tennassee. There he started his singing career when he recorded his first record . From this point he started touring. He met June Carter and fell in love with her ; he tried about forty times to propose to her in many different ways but she refused. Along the tour he also started his addiction , but with the help of June and her family he regained control on his life. And finally in the year 1968 he married June Carter after she accepted his proposal while they were singing “Jackson”. Then we return back to the present moment in Folsom prison, where the movie ends in a wonderful scene that I will talk about later in details
.Johnny cash lived suffering all his life because of his father, who always blamed him for not being there when his brother had his fatal accident. There was an internal conflict within him: he always felt guilty for his brother’s death. On Thanks Giving day he confronted his father and asked him where he was when Jack had the accident, but as usual his father put him down. He was an out-cast from his family. June Carter, too, was an out-cast but from society, because she was a divorced mother. She suffered a lot from people’s talk, and this may be the reason that in every time Johnny proposed to her she refused . That was also the cause of her internal conflict. Religion played a great role in their lives. Johnny knew every single word in the Holy Gospels and had the talent that helped him to sing them all, just like his mother. While June’s religious family taught her compassion and mercy to help the miserable people, they were the main reason that she helped Johnny when he lost everything. June was a very responsible passionate mother, while Johnny was an addict irresponsible father.
The brilliant ending scene brings us back to reality, to Folsom prison in the year 1956. He was dressed up all in black and he looked like he “was going to a funeral”. He was indeed going to the funeral; he was putting an end to his past life in which he was imprisoned for years. On stage he holds up a cup of yellow dirty water that the prisoners drink; it symbolises the worst that could ever happen in life. He says, “I thank God that I do not have to drink this water that you drink” then throws it away and breaks it into pieces; he is telling them to hold on and wait – salvation will come soon with God’s mercy and forgivness.
I think that the power of love together with the presence of the alcoholic father in Johnny Cash’s life controls the whole development of the action. When Johnny was still a child, he badly wanted to get out of the house where he lived in with the beast – his alcoholic father – ; as soon as he got the opportunity to leave he did and joined the air force, for his house was lacking the loving father-son relationship. When he was married to Vivian, he was motivated by his love to her to work hard to make her happier and more comfortable ; when problems started to increase between them, he again tried as hard as he could to engage himself with the tour. This is also clear when he first saw June Carter and fell in love with her ; he tried proposing to her several times , but on every time his proposal was refused, he shifted to drugs to forget his miserable life. Yet June’s loving family, out of religious beliefs, were trying with all their heart to help Johnny get out of his crisis. They believed that God is merciful and forgiving, so they helped him. At the end Johnny was rewarded by marrying the love of his life, June Carter. She was also rewarded with a good loving husband whom she loved, a reward for her mercy towards him and for helping him when he was an addict. It’s only when both of them started to get closer to God and “walk the line” that they were awarded by what they wanted.
Finally, I see that the movie Walk the Line deserves to be an Academy awards winning movie, as both Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix did their best in the movie. They both took vocal courses; and Reese Witherspoon learnt to play the autoharp to dramatise the life of this legend in its most perfect way they can. In addition, James Mangold, the director, successfully tackled chronologically all of Johnny Cash’s life from his childhood till his marriage to June Carter. I admit that I did not know Johnny Cash before watching this movie – which is something I should be ashamed of – as I was never introduced to know such a legend. The movie was successful: I know him now!

V For Vendetta

The movie "V for Vendetta" starring Nataley Portman as Evey and Hugo Weaving as V,mainly talks about the manipulation of the governments with the media and dramatizing the effect of this manipulated media on the public.it also deals with the major problem facing the world nowadays,the terrorism threat . The movie touches on the theme of vengence,which turns out to become a revolution calling for a socio-political change.

For those who didn't watch the movie:Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow:

"The story is set in the near future, when Britain is ruled by a totalitarian regime called Norsefire. It follows Evey Hammond ,a young woman who, at the start of the film, is rescued from state police by a masked vigilante known as "V".After rescuing her, V takes Evey to a rooftop location to witness his spectacular destruction of the Old Bailey. The regime explains the incident to the public as a planned demolition, but this is shown to be a lie when V takes over the state-run TV station the next day. He broadcasts a message urging the people of Britain to rise up against the oppressive government on November 5, one year from that day, when V will destroy the Houses of Parliament.
Evey, who works at the TV station, helps V to escape. V brings Evey to his lair, where she is told that she must stay in hiding with him for her own safety. She stays for some time, but upon learning that V is killing government officials, she escapes to the home of one of her superiors, Gordon Dietrich However, the state police raid Gordon's home shortly afterwards, and Evey is captured. She is incarcerated and tortured for days, finding solace only in notes left by another prisoner, Valerie. Evey is eventually told that she will be executed unless she reveals V's whereabouts. An exhausted Evey says she would rather die, and, surprisingly, is then released. Evey discovers that she has been in V's lair all along, and that her imprisonment was staged by V. By forcing Evey to experience what he had gone through long ago, V hoped that Evey would understand that our integrity, "the very last inch of us", can be more important than our lives.
Evey initially hates V for what he has done, but comes to realise that having faced her own death, she can now live without fear. She leaves V, promising to return before November 5.
In the meanwhile inspector Finch is collecting evidence to capture V,and frinds out the truth about how Norsefire came to power.An also the truth about V's origin.Fourteen years previously, Britain had suffered from war and terrorism. The ultra-conservative Norsefire party led a reactionary purge to restore order; so-called enemies of the state disappeared during the night. The country was deeply divided over the loss of freedom until a bioterrorist attack occurred, killing about 100,000 people. The fear generated by the attack allowed Norsefire to silence all opposition and win the next election by a landslide. A cure for the virus was discovered soon afterwards. With the silent consent of the people, Norsefire turned Britain into a bigoted totalitarian order, with their leader Adam Sutler as High Chancellor.
However, the viral catastrophe had actually been engineered by Norsefire as a ploy to gain power. The virus had been engineered through deadly experimentation on "social deviants" and political dissidents at Larkhill detention center. V had been one of the prisoners, but instead of being killed by the experiments, he had gained heightened mental and physical abilities. V eventually destroyed the center and escaped, vowing to take revenge on Norsefire's regime.
As November 5 nears, V's various schemes cause chaos in Britain, as the population grows more and more intolerant and subversive towards government authority. On the eve of November 5, V is visited again by Evey, and shows her a train which he has filled with explosives in order to destroy Parliament through an explosion in the abandoned London Underground. He delegates the destruction of Parliament to Evey, believing that the ultimate decision should not come from him. He then leaves to meet Party leader Creedy who, as part of an earlier agreement, has agreed to bring V the Chancellor in exchange for V's surrender. Creedy kills the Chancellor in front of V, but V does not surrender, instead killing Creedy and his men. V, mortally wounded in the fight, returns to Evey. He thanks her, and then dies. His body is placed upon the train with the explosives.
Evey is about to send the train down the track when she is discovered by Inspector Finch. However, Finch, having learned much about the corruption of the Norsefire regime, allows Evey to proceed. Meanwhile, thousands of Londoners, all wearing Guy Fawkes masks, march on Parliament to watch the event. Because Creedy and the Chancellor are dead, the military stands down in the face of a civil rebellion. Parliament is destroyed by the explosion. On a nearby rooftop Evey and Finch watch the scene together and hope for a better tomorrow."***
***Quoted from www.wikipedia.com.

"V for Vendetta" has a very high political tone,tackled from the very begining of the movie.starting by the revolutionary scene dramatizing "Guy Fawkes' Gun Powder Plot". The action developes in the near future London,governed by a totalitarian government that manipulates the media to serve it's own needs,and where corruption is spread everywhere. Curfew hours at night are imposed on the public,and anyone who is found in the streets during these curfew hours is severely punished by the corrupt police forces,which is clear in the scene when the police agents were trying to rape Evey.
The movie is also successful in portraying the effect of the media on the unaware public,who is ignorant about the political matters in the country,as they are only fed by the information given to them by the unsincere media.When V blew up the Old Baily ,the employed annoncers on the news channels stated that it's an act of demolition under the government's responsibility,which is the exact opposite to what happened.When V took over the news station and declared his responsibility for the Old Baily's explosion,there were trials from the police to capture him and they accidently killed one of their agents and failed to capture V.Ofcourse the public didn't see V and don't know him,so to cover up for their failure the employed announcers stated on the national television,that the police was successfull in bringing down the "Terrorist" by putting the picture of the dead police agent.
It also touches on the subject of the origins of the governments.London was under the Norsefire totalitarian government that would do anything to stay in power,which has it's parallels in real life.In the movie The Norsfire rose to power when there was division in the country,so they devised the bio-terrorist attack so that the public would have to turn to their own government to protect them.the same as what Hitler did when the Reichstag building was set on fire on febuary 27th,to propagate anti-communism and gain the public on his side in the elections.Which is also done in Western and Arab countries to keep the public under their control.
The main motivation behind V's actions is vengence for what the government did to him and the unhuman treatment that he was treated in prison,where he and the other prisoners were the experiment rats,on which the government experimented it's biological weapons and tortured them.It's in prison that he developed his character and gained his name "V" ,the latin word for number five,he was prisoner number five.So under all this oppresion he rebelled and destroyed the facility and became this new hero V.He devoted himself to change the socio-political status and bring justice to the oppressed.
While on the other hand Evey is weak because of the involvement of the government in her life since her childhood.Her brother died in the bio-terrorist attack,while her parents were taken from their own house,in front of her eyes by government agents because they protested on the government's reaction towards their investigation in the bio-terrorist attack that caused their child's death.So since then and she's always living in fear,till V emancipated her from these fears by subjecting her to death. Evey's example may represent the case of the whole public living in fear waiting for a saviour like V.
The ending scene were V left for Evey the decission to send the train down the track,and interrupted by agent Finch,after he too is enlightened by the truth about the origin of the government-he was blindly serving ,is a wonderful scene, as V left the decission for her because her cause was purer than his her motivation wasn't like his,vengence,but bringing the truth and justice to the oppressed public.
The treatment of the identities in this movie is brilliant.V is not specified as a certain character but V himself admits that we are all V,oppressed by the totalitarian regime,and refuses to reveal his own identity.He is disguised under the face of Guy Fawkes ,the great revolutionary,to send the message to the people that they are all rebbelions and should wake up and open their eyes to what is happening around them.
The movie's success depends on whether it conveyed it's message or not,did it open the publics' eyes not to blindly trust in the media and start to investigate more to reach the truth.The question now is:Did YOU get the message?Are YOU ready to find the truth?