Thursday, December 30, 2010

True Disappointment

The movie true grit was a great disappointment, in part precisely because so much of it was so very good.

The dialogue from the original was captured and made credible in a way that I haven't heard since "Deadwood". Indeed, it was even more credible. The dialogue in Deadwood always seemed a bit too good. In the True Grit it doesn't seemed forced or contrived at all. The young heroine speaks in a biblical cadence while Rooster Cockburn speaks in a backwoods accent that is at once simple and majestic.

What is disappointing are the things added in and the things taken out.

What is added in is a brutal and callous bigotry on the part of the 'American' characters against the Indians. What is taken out is the morality of the novel. Portis' novel is a powerful statement against judicial formalism and in favor of realism.

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