True Grit

How this film uses it

The entire film is narrated by the elderly Mattie Ross, who is looking back on the events of her 14th year. Her adult voice gives the childhood adventure a seriousness the girl herself couldn't feel yet. The years in between are what let you judge it.

Where to see it

Mattie's closing voiceover, where she reflects on what the pursuit cost her. You see the one-armed adult woman that the determined girl became. You see the justice she got and what it demanded in return.

How this film uses it

The Coens take the Western's romantic heroism away from Rooster Cogburn. He is drunk, dishonest and getting old. The genre's myth of the lone hero now reads as a story told by a determined girl about a flawed man she chose to believe in.

Where to see it

Rooster's famous charge against the Pepper gang. It gets undercut when his horse is shot and falls, pinning his leg. The heroic gesture runs into the physical reality of a one-eyed drunk.

How this film uses it

Roger Deakins shoots the Ozarks and Indian Territory like a morality play about good and evil. He uses chiaroscuro, which is strong contrast between light and dark. The outlaws' hideouts sit in deep shadow and the open territory gets hard winter light, so the landscape tells you where good and evil are.

Where to see it

The scene in the outlaw's dugout. Deakins drops the background to near black and lights Rooster and the criminals from a single source. The contrast makes the negotiation feel as serious as a judgment.

How this film uses it

Mattie's adult voice narrates her own childhood with calm clarity. She has had decades to understand what she set in motion at 14. Nevertheless, looking back like this makes every scene of her determination admirable and ominous at the same time.

Where to see it

Mattie's narration of her father's murder and her immediate decision to pursue justice. The adult voice knows what that decision would cost. The child can't imagine it yet.