More to man in black than just walking the line

Ozzie Osbourne looks straight to camera and says: "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash".

Johnny Cash's America Johnny Cash Sony Music WHEN Ozzie Osbourne looks straight to camera and says: "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash", one might think the keepers at the gates of insanity had finally welcomed the heavy metal eccentric into their midst; but no.

Osbourne is just one of the many famous faces in Johnny Cash's America who pay tribute to him, not least by reciting the man in black's famous on-stage opening line.

It's an indication of Cash's reach across all genres and boundaries that among the other saluting celebrities here are Al Gore, Bob Dylan, Snoop Dogg and Sheryl Crow, to name only a few. Cash's death in 2003 spawned many retrospectives in print, film and CD.

This DVD/CD package is one of the best. The documentary, by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon, goes beyond the biopic distillation that was 2005's Walk the Line -- great though that was -- to discover not only what was in Cash's heart, but also to locate his place in the heart of the US.

It does so by going back to Cash's roots in the tough farming community in Arkansas where he grew up, talking to his friends and his family, not so much about Cash the musician as Cash the human being.

His championing of the disenfranchised, whether it was Native Americans, prisoners, Vietnam vets or his country's cash-strapped rural communities knew no bounds. Those endeavours form a pivotal part of this feature-length film, with Cash's live and recorded music, featured on a separate CD, giving context and forming a splendid aural backdrop to them.

There's also great emphasis on Cash the family man, with rare footage of Cash, his wife June Carter and their family on the road and at home. "Johnny Cash was more like a religious figure to me," says Dylan. This affectionate and informative film may persuade others to think similarly.