A No Country for Old Men Evaluation
After having developed a huge interest in No Country, I decided to finally break down and watch the film. It initially looked thoroughly uninteresting to me, especially with the promise of gore, violence, and pessimism, but curiosity won over in the end. Though there were times when I found myself leaving the room to avoid watching a scene, I have to say that I found the whole thing deliciously perplexing. First of all, I loved how refreshing it was. There aren't too many movies that set themselves in 1980's West Texas, especially with the accuracy of the time period. There weren't people hopping around in big sweaters and leg-warmers. There's this confusion going on, as I've gathered there was in the early 80's, particularly in the south, of people not realizing its not the 70's anymore and still dressing as though it was. Like Anton's hair. Check any highschool senior photo from 1969-1975 and this is what you'll see.
Yeah, thats 100% legit, mang. All he's missing is some killer sideburns. But I digress.
The movie seems to revolve around the roles three men play in the fallout of a bad drug deal. There's Lewelyn Moss who happened across the site of the deal while hunting, and like (in my opinion) a fucking idiot, made off the with bag of money that he found. There's Sheriff Bell whos becoming progressively more overwhelmed by the less-innocuous West Texas of the 80's than that of the 50's or 40's, and then there's Anton Chigurh(the real reason anyone came to watch this movie) a mysterious hitman who seems to have motives of his own involving the money that are unclear. Infact, everything about Anton is unclear and thats what I plan to discuss.
After hashing it out with my fiancee, we came to the conclusion that this film (and book too, probably, but I haven't read it yet) has a huge Aesop-esque "moral of the story" thing to it. It also is a reminder of the immenence of fate, death, and the consequences for choices that we make in life. The moral probably is, in laments terms, to not get involved with drug dealing. But more generally, its probably don't let pride overtake reason. Don't let an over-inflated self-perception put you and the lives of your loved ones in danger.
Lewelyn Moss, for example, is a huge fuckin' idiot douche bag. Why? Because he sees himself as invincible. He doesn't recognize his mortality and thinks himself able to overcome anything. This is why he helps himself to the money- he feels that he's above consequence. He thinks he can take it and make off with it without answering to someone. He then gets in over his head and to the bitter end never admits to himself that he's royally fucked, that he's not going to win this one. This is why he doesn't urge Anton to spare Carla Jean and kill him. He's too proud to admit defeat. Lewelyn Moss is the symbol of the "invincible" mentality of youth, of an unawareness of one's mortality.
Sheriff Bell, on the other hand, represents an older age, a stage in one's life where imminent death becomes more prominent. He's having to recognize his mortality, which comes easier for him because he's grown out of youthful ignorance. He talks about a time when he lived with innocent ideals. Its not that he was ever big-headed, like Lewelyn, its that he's been sheriff of a mostly peaceful territory and it has made him slightly niave. He can't handle it when crazy, unexplainable things like Chigurh come into the picture and make him realize how much things have changed, how dangerous the world really is. But also, Chigurh represents Bell's imminent death growing closer.
This brings me to Chigurh. A lot of folks who've seen the movie like to talk about Chigurh in very human terms. "He's a psychopath", "He has no mercy". And while this is all true and there are plenty of very real people out there who fit this description, I think the character of Chigurh is a bit more abstract, like an idea or a personification of something not physical at all. If you'll notice, the three men the movie revolves around never make contact with one another. Lewelyn and Chigurh engage in that gun battle, but niether one ever sees the other. Sheriff Bell never encounters Chigurh, but he finds traces of his presence that are left behind, almost like reminders.
In this movie poster/dvd cover, the three men are positioned strategically. Lewelyn is to the far left, which is where a sentence starts (in western writing) and signifies the beginning. Sheriff Bell is at the end of the line up, and Chigurh is inbetween them both and also the most prominent. He emerges out from them all in a very domineering, focal-point-ish way.
The point is, Chigurh is the physcial manifestation of fate and consequence. He's the face Lewelyn, Sheriff Bell, Carla Jean, the drug lords, etc. give to their fears. Sheriff Bell doesn't understand this new turn of events in West Texas, he can't comprehend the most twisted criminal acts, so he assigns these fears with one face, just because its easier to digest. Its hard for him to believe that more than one person could be responsible for these horrifying acts. Lewelyn knows that someone is after him, and while in reality it might be far more than one person (like every mexican drug lord in the world) its just his mindset that has to give it one face, one personage. He likes to think he can overcome one man on his own. The truth is, whats after him is far bigger than one man and he will not be able to overcome it.
Carson and the head drug lord talk about Anton Chigurh as though he were a certian individual, which he is and he isn't. He's every ruthless drug pusher out there who would stop at nothing to achieve the money. He's the consequence for getting involved in a merciless world. He's inevitable fate that can't be stopped (even with a bullet wound in the leg).
Its also easier to think of Chigurh as a human because in this way, he seems more ephemeral. Its the mindset of, "If we can contain this son of a bitch, then we can contain evil and things will be simpler." Not so. If one will notice, Chigurh was not the one that killed Lewelyn in the end, and he never got the money either, which we all thought he was after. I think Chigurh's motives transcend drug money because he transcends human nature. He's out for the money because he represents every merciless drug pusher(like I said) that will stop at nothing to get it, but he doesn't want the money because he's more than a person. He's the consequence you pay for selfishly entering a world of violence and the fate you can't escape.
The end scene with Carla Jean is an example of what happens to the innocent loved ones of some one who lives a life of drug pushing, or anything dangerous like that. She tells Chigurh that he doesn't have to hurt her and that he has no cause to. Its up to him after all, not some quarter. But Chigurh, being more than a human entity, explains that the coin has just as much of legitimate say as he would. He and the coin both arrived here by fate and chance, and whatever decision the coin makes would be just as valid as his own. He made a promise to Lewelyn to hold Carla Jean accountable for his behavior- which is often the promise that is given to people who enter a dangerous world, not by a physical killer perse, but by the likelihood of the world.
Anyway, I'm beginning to exhaust myself. I think this gave a pretty good idea of my interpretation of things.
Yeah, thats 100% legit, mang. All he's missing is some killer sideburns. But I digress.
The movie seems to revolve around the roles three men play in the fallout of a bad drug deal. There's Lewelyn Moss who happened across the site of the deal while hunting, and like (in my opinion) a fucking idiot, made off the with bag of money that he found. There's Sheriff Bell whos becoming progressively more overwhelmed by the less-innocuous West Texas of the 80's than that of the 50's or 40's, and then there's Anton Chigurh(the real reason anyone came to watch this movie) a mysterious hitman who seems to have motives of his own involving the money that are unclear. Infact, everything about Anton is unclear and thats what I plan to discuss.
After hashing it out with my fiancee, we came to the conclusion that this film (and book too, probably, but I haven't read it yet) has a huge Aesop-esque "moral of the story" thing to it. It also is a reminder of the immenence of fate, death, and the consequences for choices that we make in life. The moral probably is, in laments terms, to not get involved with drug dealing. But more generally, its probably don't let pride overtake reason. Don't let an over-inflated self-perception put you and the lives of your loved ones in danger.
Lewelyn Moss, for example, is a huge fuckin' idiot douche bag. Why? Because he sees himself as invincible. He doesn't recognize his mortality and thinks himself able to overcome anything. This is why he helps himself to the money- he feels that he's above consequence. He thinks he can take it and make off with it without answering to someone. He then gets in over his head and to the bitter end never admits to himself that he's royally fucked, that he's not going to win this one. This is why he doesn't urge Anton to spare Carla Jean and kill him. He's too proud to admit defeat. Lewelyn Moss is the symbol of the "invincible" mentality of youth, of an unawareness of one's mortality.
Sheriff Bell, on the other hand, represents an older age, a stage in one's life where imminent death becomes more prominent. He's having to recognize his mortality, which comes easier for him because he's grown out of youthful ignorance. He talks about a time when he lived with innocent ideals. Its not that he was ever big-headed, like Lewelyn, its that he's been sheriff of a mostly peaceful territory and it has made him slightly niave. He can't handle it when crazy, unexplainable things like Chigurh come into the picture and make him realize how much things have changed, how dangerous the world really is. But also, Chigurh represents Bell's imminent death growing closer.
This brings me to Chigurh. A lot of folks who've seen the movie like to talk about Chigurh in very human terms. "He's a psychopath", "He has no mercy". And while this is all true and there are plenty of very real people out there who fit this description, I think the character of Chigurh is a bit more abstract, like an idea or a personification of something not physical at all. If you'll notice, the three men the movie revolves around never make contact with one another. Lewelyn and Chigurh engage in that gun battle, but niether one ever sees the other. Sheriff Bell never encounters Chigurh, but he finds traces of his presence that are left behind, almost like reminders.
In this movie poster/dvd cover, the three men are positioned strategically. Lewelyn is to the far left, which is where a sentence starts (in western writing) and signifies the beginning. Sheriff Bell is at the end of the line up, and Chigurh is inbetween them both and also the most prominent. He emerges out from them all in a very domineering, focal-point-ish way.
The point is, Chigurh is the physcial manifestation of fate and consequence. He's the face Lewelyn, Sheriff Bell, Carla Jean, the drug lords, etc. give to their fears. Sheriff Bell doesn't understand this new turn of events in West Texas, he can't comprehend the most twisted criminal acts, so he assigns these fears with one face, just because its easier to digest. Its hard for him to believe that more than one person could be responsible for these horrifying acts. Lewelyn knows that someone is after him, and while in reality it might be far more than one person (like every mexican drug lord in the world) its just his mindset that has to give it one face, one personage. He likes to think he can overcome one man on his own. The truth is, whats after him is far bigger than one man and he will not be able to overcome it.
Carson and the head drug lord talk about Anton Chigurh as though he were a certian individual, which he is and he isn't. He's every ruthless drug pusher out there who would stop at nothing to achieve the money. He's the consequence for getting involved in a merciless world. He's inevitable fate that can't be stopped (even with a bullet wound in the leg).
Its also easier to think of Chigurh as a human because in this way, he seems more ephemeral. Its the mindset of, "If we can contain this son of a bitch, then we can contain evil and things will be simpler." Not so. If one will notice, Chigurh was not the one that killed Lewelyn in the end, and he never got the money either, which we all thought he was after. I think Chigurh's motives transcend drug money because he transcends human nature. He's out for the money because he represents every merciless drug pusher(like I said) that will stop at nothing to get it, but he doesn't want the money because he's more than a person. He's the consequence you pay for selfishly entering a world of violence and the fate you can't escape.
The end scene with Carla Jean is an example of what happens to the innocent loved ones of some one who lives a life of drug pushing, or anything dangerous like that. She tells Chigurh that he doesn't have to hurt her and that he has no cause to. Its up to him after all, not some quarter. But Chigurh, being more than a human entity, explains that the coin has just as much of legitimate say as he would. He and the coin both arrived here by fate and chance, and whatever decision the coin makes would be just as valid as his own. He made a promise to Lewelyn to hold Carla Jean accountable for his behavior- which is often the promise that is given to people who enter a dangerous world, not by a physical killer perse, but by the likelihood of the world.
Anyway, I'm beginning to exhaust myself. I think this gave a pretty good idea of my interpretation of things.