The wicked flee, even if no one pursues them.
- "Bible · Proverbs 28"
This is the first sentence of the 2010 Coen Brothers version of The Earthquake. The last sentence is not written, but tells the whole story.
The 14-year-old girl Mattie, in modern times, has to be the kind of girl that neither men nor women can handle, because she is too strong. When her father was shot by gangsters, she took the housekeeper by train to collect the corpse from another place. The first sentence she saw when she saw the corpse was: Why is the funeral fee so expensive at $50?
She watched the hanging from the audience, and there were three people on the gallows. The alcoholic white people killed people, and the last words were pouring out, and the crowd scolded: Don't cry; another manslaughterer said, I killed the wrong person, and I won't die if I kill the right person, and there are people in the crowd who are worse than me; People, before they could say the word "I" in the future, were covered with black cloth.
Women, aliens, have no right to speak in the history of pioneering white people. True black humor.
The next second of execution, the girl only frowned when she heard the crisp sound of her neck breaking. To save money, she slept with three corpses laid down from the gallows. The funeral home owner said you could pick a coffin to sleep in. Fear of life and death is not a problem for her, she wants justice - the police station does not catch fugitives, she catches them herself, hires bounty hunters for $50 to hunt down and kill her father's enemy Tom Chaney, and wants to see the enemy being killed. Judgment, hanging.
She went to the one-eyed magistrate, the old man Rooster, because she heard that he was a determined person. But she didn't believe what she heard, she wanted to see it with her own eyes.
On the first side, across the wall of the toilet in the pub, the old man was drunk and shouted to her: Women are not allowed in the bar. Mattie said: "I'm not a woman, I'm 14. She put herself outside the times and the laws.
On the second side, in court, the defense attorney asked how many people had Rooster shot? The exact number recorded in the dossier is 23. In court, she told the old man her story and rolled him a cigarette. The old man told her, I don't believe in your money, I don't believe in your story, but thank you for helping me roll a cigarette.
In the hotel room, Mattie saw the relic left by her father - a revolver, the only time she showed emotion, her eyes were wet.
Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (played by Matt Dummy) sent a message, and her mother told her to return quickly, and she responded with words. The trooper said, "Your mouth is not sweet at all. I wanted to kiss you when you were sleeping, and I wanted to slap you after hearing you."
The girl said calmly: Both are unpleasant.
After confronting the mounted police, she went to see Rooster for the third time. Rooster was drunk and slept in a shack where a Chinese businessman hung a group of wax chickens. He had a hole in his socks. She rolled Rooster a second cigarette and made an appointment to go on a "raccoon hunt" trip at seven o'clock tomorrow.
Before leaving, she wrote to her mother: "Dear mother, I am about to embark on a great adventure, I know Tom Chaney has fled abroad, and I will assist the authorities in their pursuit. You know Dad will want me to uphold justice, he It has always been so, so don't worry about me, "Even through the valley of the shadow of death, I am not afraid of evil," the Creator watches over me, and I have a good horse."
The magistrate knows that chasing the murderer is no better than catching a raccoon with a child and crossing the river one step earlier. Leave the train ticket and the letter, saying, I'll come back with your chaney.
The next scene, my favorite scene: the girl wading across the river on a dark horse (don't want to spoil it).
Rooster said: Horses are good, I spent ten dollars (you have the guts) and the girl said: You fucking misspelled Fudel.
The first forty minutes of the film are witnesses to the firm belief of Mattie, a 14-year-old girl. When the story unfolds in the wilderness of the jungle - it becomes the adventure story of Rooster, Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, and a group of outlaws. Far away from the civilized world, under the cruel laws of nature, "everything has a price, which must be paid in the end, and nothing is free except the grace of God."
It is the grace of God to turn danger into safety and not die. And the grace of God will only appear after witnessing courage.
Desperados died of desperation, with four enemies and one, Rooster killed three bandits in a row is courage, and a life-saving bullet of LaBoeuf is the grace of God.
Mattie fetched water and met the enemy, one bullet hit the enemy's ribs, it was courage, the second bullet was misfired, it was fate, the last shot killed Chaney, the revenge was avenged, it was courage, the recoil of the gun pushed her into the hole, hit Losing an arm and losing a beloved dark horse is fate, and it is also the blood money paid for revenge by others' hands
Destiny is the same for Rooster. People who traverse the wilderness, save themselves from danger again and again in the wilderness, and survive from the guns of outlaws. But in the second half of his life, he was destined to lose the wilderness and could only be an actor in a traveling circus. The older he got, the fatter he became, and he was alone before his death. God's grace was to let him rest in peace and be buried in Mattie's place.
Time is always passing by quietly, most people are wasting their lives, but they can only recall some good times spent with some people. In this film, I think the main point the Coen brothers want to express is in the ending song of the film:
In friendship, in joy, in the arms of eternity; grant me the best of grace, and in the arms of eternity my heart is so peaceful... . . .
When I get home this time, I really want to watch this movie again. It gives me some strength. If you feel that you are lacking in strength, you can also try it.
I'm not so demanding of myself, but I also want to do my best to be a kind and righteous person.
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