[5]Family-Faith Film Review: True Grit
By Catholic Office of Film and Broadcasting [6]
True Grit: Exceptionally fine second screen version of Charles Portis’ 1968 novel of the Old West — first adapted by director Henry Hathaway in 1969 — in which a remarkably determined 14-year-old girl (Hailee Steinfeld) enlists the aid of a broken-down but resourceful U.S. marshal (Jeff Bridges) and a cocksure Texas Ranger (Matt Damon) in her relentless quest to bring her recently murdered father’s killer (Josh Brolin) to account. Amid its archetypical characters, mythic atmosphere and amusingly idiosyncratic dialogue, writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s captivating drama uses its heroine’s sensitive perspective — as well as a fair number of biblical and religious references — to reflect seriously on the violent undertow of frontier life while the rival lawmen strive to overcome their personal shortcomings and petty antipathy in the service of a larger cause. Considerable, occasionally bloody violence, brief gruesome imagery, a half-dozen uses of profanity, a few crass terms. A-III — adults. (PG-13) 2010