Over on the Christianity Today Movies website, Josh Hurst has a blog, "Drawing the Line," about those who have objected to the downplay of faith in the conversion and life of Johnny Cash as portrayed in Walk the Line.

First is Terry Mattingly's "Walking the Line with God?" in which he says the movie totally misses the role Christianity played in the life of Johnny Cash and his family.

Second is a review by Mark Joseph, "A Faith-lite Johnny Cash" in which he calls Walk the Line "a beautiful movie with a gaping hole." He also contrasts this lack of insight from this movie's producers with Rick Rubin who produced Cash's "American" albums in the nineties, saying that this rock and roll producer, in spite of the fact that he didn't share Cash's faith, did understand the role it played in the life of the Man in Black and as such, that faith is reflected in these albums.

I don't disagree with the analysis of either of these writers. My expectations of Hollywood are just low enough that I'm not ever surprised that faith is downplayed in movies. Fortunately, Christian faith is a present theme in Walk the Line, even if it is not given the place it deserves.


Above: Johnny Cash and Billy Graham, 1978, taken by Jim McGuire