Editor's note: The following letter contains vivid depictions of movie violence and potential spoilers for those thinking of going to see the film. Reader discretion is advised.
EDITOR,
Bryan Raiser's review of True Grit in last week's Squamish Chief hailed the movie as "True awesomeness." Unfortunately, Bryan's review left out a few details. As the movie opens, we are taken to the graphic scene of a public hanging where a town audience, including women and children, watch as three condemned prisoners with nooses around their necks stand on a gallows. Their heads are covered with black sacks, the trap door is released, and we see a full-frontal close-up of the falling bodies, complete with the sound of a loud thud as they are caught up short on the ropes and then dangle and bounce around before their lifeless corpses are lowered to the ground. Later, a man is shot in the head and we see at close-range the grotesque bullet wound as his eye and head is destroyed and blood spatters on the wall behind him. Presumably, this is the scene that Bryan was referring to when he calls the movie a "must-see no-brainer."In another scene, a man in a cabin pulls out a large knife and chops off the other guy's fingers. Again, we see in detail the hacked-off fingers falling bloodied to the table, and then a close-up of the man's severed stump - just before his other hand grabs another knife and he stabs his tormentor in the chest, leaving the blade in place. But the best scene is near the end when the 14-year-old heroine falls into a small cave and comes to rest just below a rotting corpse. Her foot is caught - but she notices that the body still has a knife strapped around its waist, so she reaches up and tries to pull the corpse down by the legs to reach the knife. As she does so, the rotting gut of the corpse opens up to reveal a nest of rattlesnakes living there in the putrid flesh. Before she can react, one of the snakes lunges out and clamps its poisonous fangs on her hand before she can be rescued. All in all, a great movie. I wonder if the producers might soon have a sequel - perhaps something like Bashed and Beheaded in Baghdad or Trigger Turmoil in Tucson.Frank W. BaumannGaribaldi Highlands
