The World Made Straight was written in 2006 by Ron Rash to take place in a but-vaguely-dated 1970s. It is a very, very mildly autobiographical story about a troubled teenager who learns of his family’s history, consisting as it does of victims of the Shelton Laurel massacre of January 1863.
Ron Rash is the direct descendant of Dr. Joshua Candler. Dr. Candler was the local doctor before the Civil War broke out and served as a captain in the Confederate army during the war. His diary features in the story but from it, it is unclear how much he was personally involved in said massacre, if at all. Another great-great-great grandfather is Martin Rash, who fought with a North Carolina mounted infantry division for the Union. Ron is also related to the Shelton family (victims in the shooting), through marriage.
Rash grew up unaware of his family’s complex history until, at age 12, he was reprimanded by a great uncle for playing “civil war” with friends and taking the part of the South, the side which the uncle considered to be traitors. He came to learn that his family was vehemently anti-Democrat purely stemming from their predecessors’ opposition to Lincoln during the war.
Rash’s novel is an exploration of how history lives on through the present and into the future. This occurs, he would seem to say, even if we are ignorant of that history. In 2007 he lamented that we are “incapable of even acknowledging there is a past.” How much more dismayed must he be in 2022? Like his own 12-year-old self, the book’s 17-year-old protagonist Travis Shelton grows up with no awareness of his own family’s history. As he discovers it, it begins to consume him, his past becoming more important than his own present (not to mention his future). Through this, the story is also commentary about being trapped by (or redeemed from) one’s own personal past mistakes and troubles.
Rash had his short story Speckled Trout included in the 2005 O. Henry Prize Stories. Speckled Trout would go on to form the first chapter of The World Made Straight. Although further accolades for this novel are not apparent to me, Rash has racked up many an award for his writing. The novel was adapted as a feature film, released in 2015.
Prior to this film, the Shelton Laurel massacre was the subject of a 2004 documentary detailing the events. It is also reported that Charles Frazier, the author of the book Cold Mountain, studied the historical material on Shelton Laurel and used it to create his fictional Civil War tale. Cold Mountain (2003) is one of those films that the algorithms occasionally push upon me, but I’ve yet to watch. I’ve always thought it looked more period-romantic-drama than historical-fiction, but that may be because Jude Law has a bit of a pretty-boy image in my mind. And the one-two punch of Nicole Kidman and RenĂ©e Zellweger? Don’t get me started. I’ll just say that, while I’ve had my reasons for avoiding it thus far, I may watch it next time it comes up as a compare-and-contrast exercise.
I had never heard about The World Made Straight when it came out or even later when it would have made the rounds as a DVD rental. It doesn’t seem to have been a straight-to-DVD effort, either. It stars Englishman Jeremy Irvine as the backwoods southern boy. His is a face that I probably should have seen on (UK) TV or films, but haven’t. Noah Wyle, Minka Kelly, and Haley Joel Osment (who saw dead people) top the list of upper-tier acting names on the movie’s poster. I also found myself looking up the actor playing the antagonist Carlton Toomey to learn it was singer Steve Earle. I know Earle from my radio-listening days as the singer/songwriter of Copperhead Road. It is his singing – an a cappella rendition of Wayfaring Stranger that caused me to look him up. Wayfaring Stranger, in turn, is an old folk hymn known best twenty years back as a Johnny Cash song and best known these days as a featured performance in the movie 1917. I like Steve Earle’s performance better than any of these, although it does not appear to have been recorded for any kind of music release outside of the on-screen scene.
The big reason I watched The World Made Straight now is because the viewing is free. A friend recommended it, probably having also found it streaming for free. As I said, I had never heard of it. I did notice it is on both Amazon (free, supported by ads) and YouTube (same) so, based on his recommendation and considering it was readily available to me, I watched it right away.
I’ve not found (although I didn’t look that hard) any information on production costs and the returns on that investment. Given its obscurity, I’m thinking the release didn’t do that well. It may not be the kind of material suitable for a Hollywood movie. It seems to ask more questions than it provides answers. But for all that, it is a pretty decent film. It may not be the best film that you have available to you tonight, but it is free. Free, I tell you, free.
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