Setting the Bar

I was really, really impressed by Sling Blade, mostly because I’m not really generally all that impressed with Billy Bob Thornton. Sling Blade is a drama, written and directed and starring Thornton, that was released in 1996. It takes place in rural Arkansas (aside from the accents, it was very similar to where I used to practice law) and is about a young-ish man named Karl that is released from a state psychiatric institute, where he has been living since he was 12. Karl Childers, played by Thornton, was committed to the institute at 12 for murdering his mother and her lover with a sling blade (also known as a kaiser blade). He is released because his commitment time has been completed and the State Hospital cannot keep him anymore. Prior to his release, he is interviewed by a young college student, where he details the deaths - he killed the young man because he thought the young man was raping his mother, but saw red when he realized that his mother was willingly having sex with him. Upon his release, he lands a job at a small engine repair shop because, during his commitment, he had shown astounding skill in repairing engines (which leads me to think that Karl is autistic in addition to being mentally retarded). He quickly befriends Frankie and his mother, Linda and Linda’s gay friend, Vaughan.  Unfortunately, he also meets Doyle, Linda’s abusive boyfriend. Karl quickly becomes a father figure for Frankie, and they show genuine affection for each other during the movie. Frank develops bonds with Linda and Vaughan as well, because he realizes that they also love Frankie.  Doyle eventually becomes incredibly abusive towards Frankie and Karl, which comes to a head when he has a drunken physical confrontation with Linda and Frankie in front of Vaughan and Karl. Linda kicks Doyle out of the house, but quickly reconciles with him. Doyle, sensing that he has won Linda back, announces his intentions of moving into her home permanently and kicks Karl out.  This leads to the climax of the film, which I don’t want to give away here.

This movie was very well received and rightly so. It won two awards for best adapted screenplay and was nominated for a few other awards. In some ways, I felt like I was watching a modern day Bible story brought to life.  Surprisingly, Thornton does a brilliant job at playing Karl. He really creates and encapsulates the character and becomes him. I forgot that Karl was being played by Thornton!  The supporting cast is also brilliant.  John Ritter is also almost unrecognizable as Vaughan - partly because of the physical costume he wears (glasses and a pseudo-mohawk) and partly because he is playing a character that isn’t one of his sitcome/Jack Roper type of characters.  Dwight Yoakam, the country singer, plays Doyle and shows himself to be mult-faceted and mult-talented. He is able to do dcently in both music and movies. It’s a simple movie, really, but its simplicity in its storytelling is what makes it so devastating.

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