True Grit

Matt Damon,Josh Brolin

rating: ***1/2

Characters in a Western tend to have a very clear view of right and wrong,and a very straightforward way of handling both. Characters in a Coen Brothers’ film tend to go the other way,surprising in both the choices they make and where these take them.

So True Grit should have been an interesting remake,in what would result when the two streams met. In that aspect,this

10-Oscar-nominated film is a disappointment. While Steinfeld and especially Bridges turn in splendid performances as Mattie Ross and Rooster Cogburn,True Grit lacks the pluck that separates a good film from being great.

Adapted from a Charles Portis novel,True Grit is a remake of a 1969 John Wayne classic by the same name. The screenplay,by the two Coens,is more faithful to the novel than the earlier version,giving the

14-year-old Mattie who’s seeking revenge for her father’s death as much screen time as the trigger-happy marshal,Cogburn,she hires for the job.

The Coens make a great takeoff,from the time Mattie walks into the undertaker’s to identify her father’s body. You can see death is routine business here,from the public hangings at the square to the casual offer by the undertaker to Mattie,who is looking for a place to spend the night,to sleep in a coffin if she wanted.

It isn’t surprising either that the 14-year-old would seek to put a bounty on her father’s killer Tom Chaney’s head,and hire a marshal for the task. What raises a few eyebrows is that the kid is a girl.

However,Mattie is unlike any girl the town has seen before or perhaps since,out-bargaining a merchant into buying back ponies he doesn’t want and walking into Cogburn’s den to convince him to take up her offer. She is clear about what she wants and not afraid to speak her mind.

Matt Damon plays Texas Ranger LaBoeuf,who is also hunting Chaney,for the murder of a senator in the state. Once Mattie has waded her horse through water in their pursuit,resting any thoughts they may have entertained about leaving her behind as they looked for Chaney through wild Indian territory,True Grit enters familiar ground — and never really tries any other way.

There is expected tension,condescension and flashpoints. Bodies turn up and more bodies line up as the three go further deep. Violence is everywhere,and it is brutal,hands-on and unsparing. Mattie herself gets whipped,slapped and pushed into the dirt,with a shoe thrust into her face.

What stays with you during the course of this trip is the strength of Mattie’s belief and how it changes the people around her. Steinfeld chews her words out,bending bullets and men bigger than her with that straight back and hair,and an even sterner resolve. Stepping into the big shoes of Wayne,Bridges’ Cogburn,in contrast,doesn’t seem to live by any clear standards or feels the need to. However,you are never in any doubt that through his good one eye,he sees the world straight and clear.

That explains the Oscar nominations for Steinfeld and Bridges. In the way the film captures the differing landscapes and harsh beauty of the region the three traverse,the cinematography nomination was also coming its way. The rest may be nostalgia for a genre that with its unambiguous moral lines and its simple stories has lost some of its popularity.