Country Strong

(Just a movie with my silly rambling thoughts which are by no means “right” opinions)

When “Country Strong” hit the movie theaters I watched it three times.  Now it’s released on Directv so I’ve once again been sucked back in to the story.  I’m not sure I can narrow down specifically why I enjoy the movie so much but there are several reasons.  My musical tastes are very eclectic.  I like a wide range including country music.  I very much enjoyed the music in “Country Strong”.  The actors all had strong voices and the music seemed more traditional, “real”, country music.  So music was one appeal.

The actors also interested me.  I thought the movie was well cast.  I’ve always like Gwyneth Paltrow as an actress and was quite impressed with the acting abilities of Tim McGraw.  Leighton Meester.  I had no idea who she was when I saw the movie.  However, I quickly became a fan of both her acting skills and her voice.  And of course Beau.  He fit his character well.  And his songs were great.

However the story is what appealed to me the most and drew me in.   To many the movie was hokey and silly.   But the underlying messages really appealed to the part of me that served in social work so many years.

I loved the hot mess that was Kelly.  Perhaps she typifies the average “star” in today’s world.  All caught up in the money, fame, glory, attention, everything that would define a “star’s” life. 

The dynamic of her relationships and the obvious mental illness that haunted her was intriguing.  Kelly, an addict who seemed to me to also be suffering from some type of mental illness, drew everyone into her disease.  Beau, who worked in the rehab facility into which Kelly was placed, was drawn by Kelly into her world of addiction and mental illness.  Addicts tend to be pretty good manipulators.   Kelly needed someone on the inside of her treatment facility she could have on her side.  Beau turned out to be the perfect enabler while in treatment.

Beau thought he could save Kelly.  I believe he saw James as a heartless husband who was only interested in Kelly’s breadwinning abilities.  Beau was young and stupid.  Someone with addiction and mental illness issues such as Kelly—love…… well….. it takes more than love to help that person deal with the demons inside.  Beau had no idea.   I think he realized on the bus, after catching Kelly with the sleazy promoter, that Kelly was extremely troubled.  More troubled than what he was equipped to handle.  He realized James had spent years of cleaning up Kelly’s messes.  Just as James had to care for the baby quail Kelly had picked up.  (The quail in a way represented the way James had to care for Kelly.)

By the end of the movie I believe Beau saw how sick Kelly really was.  And perhaps became to understand somewhat the torture that a husband such as James goes through year after year, trying to keep the one they love from falling into the deepest crevices of illness.  James was an ill equipped enabler who perhaps thought that keeping Kelly on the stage and performing would bring back the “old” Kelly.  But Kelly had lost Kelly.  The things which she had loved and made her who she was were gone.  She was lost to the mental illness and self-medicating addictions.

Every family has a loved one somewhere who suffers from some sort of addiction or a mental illness.   We all do.   It’s hard to know how to help those we love.  Some types of treatment work for some and some for others.  For some no type of treatment seem to help.  Kelly in “Country Strong” couldn’t get away from hers demons.  Perhaps Kelly didn’t want to.  At times she seemed to enjoy the torture she put James through with no regard to his feelings as she carried on her affairs and lived her life just as she wished to live it.   Each time Kelly messed up in the movie you could see the plea in her eyes as she looked to James to save her, fix her, clean up her mess as he always did.  And you would see the disheartened despair in James’ eyes as he was probably thinking please not again….