True Grit (2010)
Runtime: 110 minutes
Genre: Holly wood Revenge drama. (Remake of the 1965 version)
Written & Directed By: Joel and Ethan Coen
Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper
On the surface, the Coen Brothers’ version of True Grit it is a suspenseful quest across the Wild West, with the climactic gunfight and the bad guys killed by the good guys, etc. At a deeper level, it focuses on the paradoxes of natural ‘justice’ in contrast to the idea of Grace. Maddie Ross, a determined fourteen-year-old girl forces the drunken one-eyed Marshall Rooster Cogburn to avenge the treacherous outlaw Tom Chaney her father’s death. Maddie joins him along with La Boeuf, a Texas Ranger. The chase ends in the dangerous Indian territory where Cogburn and LaBoeuf shoot down Chaney’s fellow outlaws. Maddie shoots Chaney and thus gets her vengeance. The recoil of the gun thrusts her into a snake pit where she is bitten. Cogburn desperately attempts to save Maddie. She survives, but she loses her bitten arm. In the closing sequence, a much older Maddie, a spinster, goes to visit Cogburn—only to learn that he is dead. As the one-armed woman moves into the distance, the hymn “Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way / Leaning on the everlasting arms…” is heard. It reminds the viewer of God’s grace that Maddie has missed, in the unforgiving pursuit of justice.
The movie opens with a half quote from Proverbs 28:1: “The wicked flee when no man pursueth ...” Its second part,” but the righteous are bold as a lion” is not shown but is implied in the later episodes. The movie opens and closes with the violent execution of ‘justice’ by hanging and shooting. The closing hymn tells us what it is all about. Those who champion justice as vengeance are indeed right in seeking it but all get hurt in the pursuit. The distinction between the good and the bad is blurred. All are in need of God’s grace. Justice comes at a cost, but God’s grace is freely offered to the good and the wicked alike. Maddie’s words in the opening, “No doubt Chaney fancied himself scot-free, but he was wrong. You must pay for everything in this life, one way and another. There is nothing free, except the grace of God,” applies to her too.
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Runtime: 143 minutes
Director: Andrew Adamson
Cast: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, Tilda Swinton, Liam Neeson.
Film adaptation of the first story of C S Lewis’s children’s classic The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is set against the background of World War II. The brilliant allegoric fantasy involves four children, several mythical animals, a witch and a lion named Aslan.
During the German bombings of London, the Pevensie children are sent to the country for safety. While staying at the country house, Lucy, the youngest, finds a wardrobe which she opens and magically enters a snow-covered fantasy land called Narnia. There she meets a friendly Faun, Tumnus, who is a slave of Jadis, the Witch who wants to enslave people. Lucy’b siblings too enter Narnia, where her brother Edmund is
Narnia was once a happy place ruled by the majestic lion Aslan, now in exile. They are also told about the prophecy about Adam’s children who would one day come to claim the Kingdom. They soon meet Aslan, who is waiting for them. Aslan helps them free Edmund from the witch, but has to make a secret arrangement with her in terms of his ‘Deep Magic.’ Aslan offers himself as sacrifice in place of Edmund, but in the final battle the witch realises the real significance of the sacrifice. Aslan returns powerful and helps the children with their army of mythical animals to win the final battle against the Witch and they are crowned the royal family of Narnia. It is a spectacular entertainer—with talking animals, great scenery, a gripping fable, powerful battle scenes and strong characters, both good and bad, with the Christian redemption story set in a fairy tale mode.
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