By Jill Cowan, The Dallas Morning News
Sure, critics have been raving about the modern outlaw flick “Hell or High Water” for its quietly funny, deftly wrought action sequences and long shots of the desolate West Texas landscape.
Yes, director David Mackenzie’s cops-and-robbers tale explores big themes like family loyalty, mortality and the pursuit of justice in a world of unjust systems bent on breaking the spirit of the individual.
But it’s also a movie about — wait for it — personal finance! Sort of.
The movie takes place (spoilers ahead, obviously) during the height of the recession: Tiny towns are run down, people are out of work.
That includes the two brothers-turned-bandits at the center of the story. And the reason for their bank-robbing spree? Saving the family ranch from foreclosure by Texas Midlands Bank so that brother Toby Howard (Chris Pine) — a father struggling to do right by his semi-estranged progeny — can give the land to his sons.
At this point, you may be thinking, “Wait a minute: How is it that a family ranch, apparently passed down through generations, is facing foreclosure? Wouldn’t it be paid off?”
