On "True Grit"

Sometimes, I judge books by their cover. By that, I mean, I judge movies by the way the stills look in feature articles and reviews. Despite having liked many of the Coen Brothers' films, I passed up watching True Grit several times. It's a Western, and sometimes it's just tough for me to get in the mood for watching Westerns. That, and No Country for Old Men still haunts me. But, as with most of the Westerns I chose to watch, when I did choose to watch True Grit, I was immediately drawn in.

This is strange, but true. I have no experience that is remotely Western, or, if I may say so, cowboy-and-Indians-related, and the first time I ever rode a horse was just a couple of weeks ago, on the way to Taal Volcano and I was apologetic all the time. But whenever I watch a Western film, it still manages to make me feel like I'm being transported back to a past life. I can only think of one explanation: When I was a child, I spent many early afternoons watching Lito Lapid and Ramon Revilla films. Maybe I should start digging those movies up.

Anyway, True Grit surprised me because I had forbidden myself to check out the plot online, and I hadn't known that it actually tells the story of a 14-year-old girl who hunts down the “coward” who killed her father. Which is actually silly of me, because it's the second film adaptation of an old novel.

Then again, it is a Western.

Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld, a nominee for Best Supporting Actress) hires the supposedly merciless U.S. Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to hunt down her father's murderer, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), who is on Chaney's trail as well.

The threesome ride together, but not amicably at first. Cogburn had wanted to leave Mattie behind, and LaBoeuf is given to walking out on the group. All three of them, however, end up as a tight trio, bonded by a steadfast dedication to their purpose: to catch Chaney and bring him to justice. True grit, perhaps?

From the beginning of the film, I had wondered about the meaning of “true grit.” Is it courage? Toughness? Strength of character? I needed a definition. But I soon found out that, for me, at least, the film wasn't going to define it in words I could easily relay.

If there's one thing film does, it makes you feel what it is like to live in the West, to be focused on justice, to not give up until you've given your all. Which is interesting because when you look at the characters in the movie, they don't seem to be feeling anything at all—except for the child, when she witnesses a shootout, falls into an old snake-infested mineshaft, and cries for her horse, all of which happen in the latter part of the film.

There is a moment in the film that I think is the most powerful, and leaves a lasting impression, even if you've been lost in the characters' Western drawl: After Mattie gets bitten by a rattlesnake, Cogburn goes down the mineshaft, saves her with the help of LaBoeuf, and rides for help on her horse. All of them—Mattie, Cogburn, and even the poor horse—displayed what I know feel as this thing called “true grit.”

Ask me what it means, and I won't be able to tell you. I'd have to tell you the story of this fourteen-year-old girl named Mattie who hires a U.S. Marshal to hunt down the “coward” who killed her father.

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