"Thunder Land": Belief beyond civilization

Sid 2022-09-30 19:32:31

Many people can clearly point out the era when the new frontier swept across the continent in American history. However, how many people have actually stepped past the intersection of civilization and history and really witnessed everything on that barren continent? In this still compliant Western movie, the director did just that, telling the story in the voice of a 14-year-old girl and bringing us into that world. Just like the western movies in the past, the sheriffs, starting from the town, stepped into the wilderness, captured a few bandits, and returned in triumph. The difference is that the ending of this story is sad and warm.
The town is naturally a so-called civilized or free gathering place. When Mattie Ross bargained, he mentioned his lawyer, jury, and family from time to time. However, in the scene on the gallows, the Indians were blindfolded before they could speak in the future. When the three figures fell, people couldn't help feeling tight, as if to imply the ambush behind all prosperity and peace.
Except for the prosperity of the town (it’s okay to be dilapidated, but lively enough), the desolate land is empty. Alcohol, shooting, violence, these elements should be in Western movies. The director also humorously asked a guy in bearskin to make a cameo. There are no lights in the bushes, no houses to protect against the cold, and only a winter wilderness, which is dangerous and charming.
A 14-year-old girl, even though she matures prematurely, has to be small in this desolate land. Starting from her warm family, she climbed a tree to cut off a dead person, climbed the roof to cover the chimney, and then watched the finger of a poor guest character be chopped off. Finally, she sat in a row with a few corpses. Leave. There are no heroes and no controversy in the Coen Brothers movies. It is similar to the so-called martial arts arena, where grievances are repaid, those who owe lives pay back, and those who owe money pay back. Mattie just wants to avenge his father. Marshall may be for the dollars, but in the final analysis, he is about to decay in the so-called civilized town. Only horseback and violence can shape his glory.
In a country that is not bound by law, Mattie also seems to believe that if you pursue what you want, you also need a price. It is as if the murderer will pay the price for his actions after he escapes. During the running day and night, a person accidentally sent her enemy to the front. When she shot down the enemy, suddenly everything suddenly had an answer.
The Coen brothers used a snowy night to end the story of revenge, with soft snow, a tired horse, and the warm and firm light at the end of the night to end the beliefs and laws of that era. And Mattie is also a few years later, looking for a partner that he couldn't have. Only the lost arm and the unforgettable story on the soul reminded her-yes, everything has happened before, on that barren land, under the sky that civilization has never reached...

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True Grit quotes

  • Mattie Ross: I hope you don't think I'm going to keep you in whiskey?

    Rooster Cogburn: I don't buy that, I confiscate it. And a touch of it wouldn't do you any harm against the night air!

    Mattie Ross: I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains!

    Rooster Cogburn: Well, it's the real article! Genuine, double-rectified bust head. Aged in the keg.

  • Rooster Cogburn: [watching Mattie ford the river hanging on the back of her horse] By God. She reminds me of me.

    LaBoeuf: Well, then we might just not get along.