'True Grit'

The Coen brothers' newest film True Grit follows the story of 14-year-old Mattie Ross, played by newcomer Haillee Steinfeld, who sets out to avenge the murder of her father in bringing to justice the culpable Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). The latter, unfortunately, has already disappeared to Indian territory. Mattie thus decides to employ the meanest and toughest gun for hire in Arkansas, former Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). She, in turn, is herself confronted by LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), a seemingly pompous and ridiculed lawman from Texas who wants Chaney for the murder of a government official in his home state. After many indistinguishable growls from Jeff Bridges which somehow manage to translate into general displeasure at Mattie's involvement in this adventure, the three of them set out to catch Chaney.

So far, so Western, and this doesn't change one bit throughout the film. Bridges' Rooster is a far cry from John Wayne's interpretation of the same character in Hathaway's 1969 version. Where Wayne gave the character your typical rough with a heart of gold attitude whose slightly ironic stance towards Mattie bordered on the patronizing, Bridges plays Rooster with a meanness the character previously lacked. This is no weekend-boozer, this is a full-blown alcoholic whose depiction includes moments of honest and deliberate cruelty and pathetic degradation. The Coens' Rooster is no surrogate father-figure for Mattie and while the relation between the two definitely develops throughout the film, the Coens are wise enough to let their female protagonist remain the center of her own narrative rather than attaching her to a kind and older role model or lover.

Mattie's independence, however, relates not so much to her age or gender (the Coens evade political interpretation of their characters again), as it is a direct correlation to her Presbyterian upbringing which includes her Protestant work ethics, her firmness in the principles of right and wrong and her obsession with justice which she equals with the law.

LaBoeuf, on the other hand, is introduced as a buffoon with spurs, in fact he is immediately declared a clown in the first scene by Mattie. LaBoeuf's swollen manner of speaking and high-trodden values seem to make him an ideal target for the Coenian irony, here, however, lies the most surprising element of the film: LaBoeuf turns out to be a genuine stand-up guy who firmly believes in all the values he so self-righteously proclaims throughout the film and which, if this was a previous Coen film would turn out to be but empty principles in a system of values which would then be shown to be but  socially constructed and as thus would inevitably collapse.  It is here that the hard-core Coen audience remains confused.

The audience is  now presented with a traditional Western whose conservative morals and plot lines even John Wayne could not fault. The only concession to originality lies in the Coens' decision to set the film in the bitter-cold rather than the sun-drenched desert surroundings favored by most Westerns. Here lies the Coens' main asset, as the audience is presented with an array of extremely beautiful shots, mostly due to Roger Deakins' photography. Deakins keeps the colors of the film subdued and plain, unadorned, much like Mattie's clothing and  her values for that matter. The lighting perfectly matches the sober tone, the pastoral, somber music and the true grit of the characters.

The by far strongest aspect of True Grit is to be found in the Coens' use of  landscape, an eerily empty, hostile, but undeniably beautiful environment. Images such as Mattie and Rooster waiting motionlessly in the snow only for what appears to be a bear riding a horse to emerge, give the film a dream-like, poetic and slightly surreal quality which culminates in the penultimate scene in which Rooster rides with snake-bitten Mattie under the night-sky. In moments like these The Night of the Hunter comes to mind as the Coens create several character or plot vacuums in which the beauty of this bare landscape is allowed to unfold its hold on the spectator. Maybe the Coenian sense of an uncaring surrounding is not lost after all as the the characters' motions and emotions come to seem insignificant set against the grand indifference of shots such as water rippling in the river or trees almost meticulously dividing the screen in unadorned lines.

The beauty of images like these save True Grit from being but an average Western. The dialogue, plot lines and character development are very enjoyable while offering nothing new to the canon of the Western. Even though one would wish for a little bit more grit in the visuals, as the film feels so polished at times, our gaze is in danger of sliding of the screen, the poetic beauty of True Grit makes it well worth seeing.