I don’t know who won the Oscar for “Best Actor” in at the 69th Academy Awards, but it must have been one of the greatest performances of all time to steal it from Billy Bob Thornton. He's so good in Sling Blade it's worth recommending just for him. It's a touching, emotional, thought-provoking, and incredibly well-crafted film.
Karl Childers (Thornton) is an intellectually disabled man just released from the psychiatric hospital where he's resided since the age of twelve. Unsure where to go, he returns to his home town and makes a humble life for himself there repairing engines. He befriends 12-year-old Frank (Lucas Black), a boy whose childhood seems to be going in the same tragic direction as Karl's.
Sling Blade features a disabled character as fully realized as any person you've seen on-screen. After the film is done, you have such an understanding of him you reckon you'd be able to pick out exactly what food he'd keep in his refrigerator on a Saturday morning. You completely understand the ins and outs of his friendship with Frank. They relate in a unique manner. Karl is an adult. He sees the world differently than the young man because of his experience but is able to understand him as no "normal" adult could. Karl's growth has been stunted at the age of 12 because of his institutionalization and his disability. Based on their lives' similarities, it's like they were destined to meet and it's a fascinating thing to watch.
That friendship is the film's core and the way it touches you raises the stakes as much as any plot counting down to the annihilation of the entire planet. Throughout, you sense that something is going to go wrong. Is it because you’ve been programmed to believe nothing good can last forever? Maybe. It could also be that there is something inherently tragic about Karl. He’s in a world that is ill-equipped to handle him. It isn't even that he's mistreated; it’s that nobody really knows what to do with him except for a boy who is on a tragic path himself. It becomes a question of who, if anyone is going to make it out alright.
Written and director by Thornton and based on his play, Sling Blade unleashes a stampede of emotions. Karl and Frank fill you with hope. Despite the danger looming in their future, they are innocents. They have some funny moments, their interactions make you think of your own children/parents. The film's villain, Doyle (Dwight Yoakam). He's dating Frank's mother, Linda (Natalie Canerday), and will make you want to tear your ears off in a rage. If only he was a cartoon you'd be able to distance yourself from him, you'd be immune to the aura of hatred which he exudes. Dwight Yoakam delivers such a powerful, and hateful performance that fills you with despair. You know there are people exactly like him out there. You want Linda and Frank to escape him so badly you'll die if they don't but who's she going to run into the sunset with? Karl? her gay best friend Vaughan (John Ritter, also terrific)? That's a fantasy. This is real. What you feel was already there, deep inside you. We know life contains both the jubilation of being given a new chance and actions that remind you of how awful human beings can sometimes be.
Down to the last moment, Sling Blade is just about perfect because it doesn't chicken out. You don't get the ending you were hoping for, you get the one you deserve and yes, it hurts. Like an assassin that’s been training for years in some hidden temple, it strikes you square in the heart. Sling Blade is a great film. The second it's over, you want to him "Play" right away and watch it again. (On Blu-ray, April 15, 2015)
