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I identify as Christian, but I’m not the kind of guy who blasts gospel music (I’d much rather blast Slayer. It sounds better). I also like country music, but I’m not the kind of person where that’s all I listen to. (Why would I when MF DOOM’s–rest his soul–music exists?)
So, I’m Christian, and I like country music. Join the club, right? However, a club I think I belong to that a lot of Americans might not belong to is that I’m a huge fan of the 1983 movie, Tender Mercies, which marries country music and Christianity so well that I’m surprised it’s not shown in Sunday schools across America.
The movie, which is about a recovering alcoholic country singer who has given up on life until he falls in love with a widow, is a beautiful movie, and one that I want to share with you all in the year of our Lord (which is every year, I guess).
It Makes Country Music Feel Both Small, But Also Massive At The Same Time
I mentioned up top that I like country music, but I like the old stuff. Like, Slim Whitman, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings…you know, the classics. I loved Walk the Line (we reviwed it well, too), and was also a huge fan of its parody film, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (again, so were we). In every way, I love movies that settle upon parts of the country that I am very far removed from.
As a New Jersian, I do hear country music every so often, but on my side of the world, country music seems VERY small. When we ranked the best music movies of all time, I didn’t stop and think, wait. Where’s…Tender Mercies? And I helped with that list!
That said, there’s a certain portion of the country where country music is it. This film shows that. It takes place in Texas, and the people in the area might love many things, but the two things that are certain are Jesus, and country music.
Robert Duvall (who won the Best Actor Oscar for this performance) is our protagonist, and he’s a – what else? – alcoholic who desperately needs saving. He finds his angel in a woman named Rosa Lee (Tess Harper), who runs the roadside motel that Duvall’s character, Mac Sledge, finds himself in one night. What follows is a quiet romance that leads Mac to give up alcohol, and find his passion for music again (he gave it up for reasons unknown).
Due to circumstances which involve his ex-wife, Dixie (Betty Buckley), who is also a country singer, Mac learns to open up about himself and go back to country music.
The plot takes its time, but we learn so much about these people’s lives, as well as get a glimpse into how country music might seem small if you’re an outsider looking in, but is literally people’s whole lives, and massive at the same time, which this excellent movie portrays.
It Also Doesn’t Bang You Over The Head With Its Overall Message About Faith And Redemption
No offense if you like them, but I am really not a fan of super preachy movies. I’ve tried stuff like God’s Not Dead (which SNL once spoofed), and suffered through The Passion of the Christ. But, when it comes to films like Heaven is for Real, Fireproof, or I Still Believe, I know I’m going to spend a vast majority of its runtime rolling my eyes, so I don’t even bother, because I don’t want to watch a film that is aimed at Christians.
Yes, as I mentioned, I am Christian, but I don’t like being seen as a demographic. That said, I still desire to see movies about faith. Like, I loved Silence (which didn’t make our list of the best Scorsese movies, but I think it should have), as well as his adaptation of The Last Temptation of Christ. I like Kevin Smith’s Dogma, and I’m definitely not against seeing Christianity in my movies. I just have trouble with a film that seems sanctimonious or, I don’t know, judgy.
Thankfully, Tender Mercies is anything but. I’m not going to spoil it, but Mac goes through every parent’s worst fear, and he struggles to understand it, as any parent would. Yet, earlier in the movie, he gets baptized when he gets married, and it makes him question his life, and the choices he’s made in the past.
This is a movie that is all about faith and redemption, but it’s also subtle, and it’s definitely not judgy, which I certainly appreciate.
The Music Is Genuinely Beautiful
Robert Duvall sings in this movie. His voice isn’t perfect, but it’s genuine and true. Plus, it’s the kind of twangy country music that I adore. Very rural, and devoid of all pretentiousness. Just straight from the heart, and soulful.
Not only that, but all of the music plays a part in the story itself. Like, there’s an utterly beautiful scene where Mac encounters his daughter, Sue Anne (Ellen Barkin) and she asks him if he remembers singing the song “On the Wings of a Dove” to her when she was younger. He tells her that he doesn’t, since he’s not emotionally in a place to open himself up to her yet, and when she leaves, he watches her from the window and sings that very song to her.
In that way, the music is an integral part of the plot, and it’s all truly beautiful, just like country music itself if you actually listen to the lyrics. Just gorgeous, gorgeous stuff.
The Characters And Setting Are Incredibly Intimate
There really aren’t a lot of characters in this movie. There’s Mac, as I mentioned earlier. There’s his new wife, Rosa Lee, and his old wife, Dixie. Then, there’s Mac’s daughter, Sue Anne, as well as the son of his new wife, Sonny (played by Allan Hubbard).
There’s also Paul Gleason, a character actor who was everywhere in the ‘80s, as a reporter, but honestly, the cast is incredibly small and intimate, which works in this movie’s favor.
Also intimate is the setting itself. The story takes place in Texas, but it’s so barren that it seems both empty but also like it’s collected these specific people to help Mac out on his journey. I love that about this movie, because the location seems lonely in itself, just like Mac, and it’s only when he starts to open up that it feels like there is actual life in this town.
Honestly, this is a hidden gem of a movie. Even though I like Terms of Endearment, which won Best Picture at the 1984 Academy Awards, I would have picked Tender Mercies to be the victor. It actually hit me on a much deeper level.
It Is A Simple Movie With Big Ideas
On the surface, this doesn’t seem like a particularly deep movie. An alcoholic musician who falls in love with a woman? Isn’t that basically the plot to the most recent version of A Star is Born? However, Tender Mercies is more than just its plot.
The film really is all about loneliness and how you might be searching for something and not even realize it. In some Christian movies (and even some quasi-Christian flicks, like a few of the Tyler Perry movies), it’s quite obvious that they’re searching for Jesus, and the big pay-off is (you guessed it) they find Jesus!
Tender Mercies never goes that route, and I’m happy that it doesn’t. Mac isn’t searching for anything, really. He’s adrift in the beginning of the movie, and by the end of it, he’s hurting. And confused.
There’s hope in his life, and he clings to it, but it’s not like just because he was baptized, and found happiness, that he’ll always be happy. Especially in the face of a tragedy. I think a lot of people (especially Christians) can relate to that message. It’s a big idea in a small movie, and deeply relatable.
So, I implore you to watch this film. You might just find your next favorite movie.