And I'm In Pieces, Baby, Fix Me, And Just Shake Me Till You Wake Me From This Bad Dream, And I'm Going Down, Down, Down, Down

--"Baby", Justin Bieber

I went into watching Country Strong expecting a feel-good movie. Usually when one purchases a ticket for a movie set in the heartland or in the South one can expect a plot involving the triumph of the human spirit or some other uplifting message. While Country Strong does have its moments of inspiration one will certainly walk away feeling very much shaken by what transpires.

I shan't give away all the plot turns that lead me to say that, but I will speak on one aspect that especially affected me. Tim McGraw's character, the husband of Gwyneth Paltrow's character, Kelly Canter is a man whose been let down one too many times by his wife. I don't know if it's the proper aspect to be admiring, but he does a remarkable job of portraying a man whose disappointment and frank distrust of his wife's ability to recover ultimately lead to a tragic choice. On one hand, you want to hate the guy because while he still wants to be her manager and friend, he has basically frozen her out of ever being his wife again--at least how she used to be his wife. But on the other hand, Kelly's mistake is a huge mistake marriage-wise and you kind of sympathize with him for being so distant from somebody he used to love deeply. It's a delicate balance to maintain and he manages to carry it off well. You feel him emotionally starving his wife, but you also feel why he does it in every scene in the film.


and I just can't believe my first love won't be around

That got me thinking all the way through dinner with my friends and on the way home afterwards. Sometimes couples grow apart because it's the natural order of things. Other times it's one incident that changes the relationship forever. One fight, one wrong choice--and you can instantly fall out of love with someone. I mean--the romantic idealist in me doesn't want to believe it, but I have to admit that given the same set of circumstances encountered in the film I might have been led down the same road that Tim McGraw's character was.

That's what makes Paltrow's arc so convincing. You feel the helplessness of a person whose life fell apart in the matter of one moment. You feel her struggling to get her life together even while almost everyone around her doesn't believe she has it in her any longer. Most of all, you feel that she honestly could survive her journey back if her husband would simply back her play. When he doesn't time and time again you begin to understand that however this film ends it's not going to be pretty. More than that, you begin to understand that sometimes strength isn't the courage to overcome adversity.

Sometimes courage is the strength to recognize that there are some obstacles that can't be overcame, some challenges you can't win, and to press on regardless.

Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers