. "Mattie is in a privileged position to seek vengeance (she has wits, race, connections, and money at her disposal.)Like many quality Western films (not spaghetti Westerns), True Grit has a lot in common with films about the Holocaust and pogroms (and uses their themes.) The negative references to fire throughout the film are a nod to pogrom imagery (fire, be it literal fire or gunfire, is depicted" . . .