http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/betweentheframes/2008/03/26/entry-1


Premiered at Cannes in May 2007, "No Country for Old Men", adapted
from Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece, whose title comes from W. B.
Yeats' poem "Sailing to Byzantium", works as a perfectly-executed
piece of genre fiction, suspenseful and frightening, just like its
source novel, which the film smartly follows almost to the letter,
excising only some extraneous characters to maintain the script's
disciplined focus.


The film opens with shots of desolate and wide-open country in West
Texas in June 1980. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), while hunting
pronghorn near the Rio Grande River, comes across a collection of
corpses and one dying Mexican and stumbles upon two million dollars in
a satchel a short distance from the massacre. Like any tragic
protagonist, he takes the money and does his best to cover his tracks.
He is quickly and efficiently pursued by a monstrous psychopath Anton
Chigurh (Javier Bardem) with his own twisted views on justice. His
unique weapon, a captive bolt pistol, is introduced as Chigurh
strangles a sheriff's deputy, escapes custody, and steals a car by
using the bolt pistol to kill a driver. What follows is a whole lot of
shooting, running, hiding, driving, and breaking windows. Once word
gets out that Anton is after Llewelyn, a third man enters the fray, an
aging Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), known to everyone as Ed Tom,
disinclined to draw his gun in the small town he has manned for years,
let alone hunt down a lunatic. While Llewelyn unwittingly carries a
transponder through which Anton can track him, Anton wittingly leaves
a path of bodies through which the lawman can track him. There are
apparent loose ends in the story as mysteries about the drug deal and
such that are unexplained, but if you think about the whole story
again and again, you'll find that, the information to piece it all
together, is there.


The film captures everything from mid-day open-sky vistas to
claustrophobic night time urban action. In timing and tension, "No
Country for Old Men" is one of the most suspenseful films the Coens
have ever made. Cinematographer Roger Deakins beautifully shoots
numerous gorgeous landscapes but these are not pretty for aesthetics'
sake as he fills the screen, primarily, with the land, leaving very
little visible sky, signaling to the viewers that the story you're
about to see is not one of heavenly redemption but one of earthly sin,
a story set in a violence-ridden world devoid of any divine
interaction, let alone intervention. From frame one, the Coens make it
clear that whatever is about to happen, it's not going to end well.

Though McCarthy's novel has also been brilliantly well-adapted,
masterfully improved and artistically altered, it is still full of
McCarthy's clear, concise yet poetic voice. With all of the seemingly
standard-issue thriller plot devices in the piece, money, guns and
trouble, one must not ignore the subtle yet brutal themes of "No
Country for Old Men". Like "Sailing to Byzantium" and the novel, this
film is an endlessly interpretable piece of artistry, both literarily
and cinematically and suggests endlessly fascinating comparisons with
other important subject matters-- ones of travel, ones of age, and one
of the human soul nature.

This is a story about death, not just murder or crime, a story about
want, not just money, a story of principle, not just pursuit. The
entire theme of the movie is based on how "fate" picks and chooses who
is next to die. In that sense it has kind of a 'Biblical" ring to it,
if you pay attention to methodical-coin toss, yet it is sort of random
as far as who's next. The film's motifs of chance, free-will, and
predestination are familiar territory for the Coen brothers, who
present similar threads and tapestries of fate and circumstance in
their earlier works. This film reminds us that our existence on this
planet is equal parts fulfilling and completely senseless. Like
McCarthy, Coen brothers talk about death, not just individual death,
but about the death of societies, collapse and rebirth. Its real
message is not tragic because it is merely an observation: evil can
never be defeated, but when you're no longer gung-ho to face it and
fight it, it's time to step aside.




Just like how readers interpret the subtext of literature when reading
between the lines, recurring significant motifs cannot be ignored. The
glasses look across space/time as the hunters and hunted swap places.
The wounded antelope, the wounded man, the wounded dog, all look back.
There is the hunting motif and the gun motif. When Moss carries around
the German binoculars and the H & K in the sun, he is in the Heidegger
and Kierkegaard existentialist mode. Apart from the monument motif,
the water motif is life spirit and Moss is revived by water, and the
water motif is connected to the bathroom motif, and you'll see Coen
brothers do what Stanley Kubick does in this regard. Just like another
running visual motif of trails of blood on the ground, these shots are
infused with dread, reminders that the wounded cannot hide. Once the
damage is done, the chances of getting out alive are beyond possible.
By Greek mythology references, Chigurh is a child of the Sun,
Moss/Carla Jean of the Moon, and Bell of the Earth. Carla Jean and
Moss are soul mates, having once been split apart by Zeus. With
Biblical allusions, Chigurh is also sunlight/power/strength, and Moss,
in contrast, is moonlight while Bell is the earth/weakness/pity, Moss
is therefore "Everyman", alternately looking toward the light, then
the shade.


"No Country for Old Men" would absolutely fail to deliver its messages
if it did not feature a trio of exceptional performances, overflowing
with memorable moments, and easily place the film as one of the finest
films of the year. It takes a cast like the one in this film to pull
off what the Coens demand of their actors. Though Brolin was the last
to be cast, he has planted his own flag on the landscape now and
produced a breakthrough performance and brings humanity to his
"Everyman" character. He may have been in this career for years but
this is a breakout role for him. It marks another great performance
for Brolin, whose 2007 has been full of them. As the guy on the run,
the cynical vet, clinging to a country long dead, Brolin is this
film's version of the good guy, though that doesn't exactly compel
viewers to root for him. Brolin, like Bardem, conveys what isn't
spoken. In his case, it is logical fear that is stupefied by virility
and money hunger. Moss has about as little dialogue as any main
character I've seen outside of silent film as he travels alone, trying
to stay one step ahead of "Death", and every scene without dialogue is
there for a reason. He knows he's making a mistake, but thinks he's
smart enough to make his decision worth the risk. It gives viewers a
lot of time to second guess the motives for his actions, while viewers
also ask themselves what they would do, so Moss is easy to identify with.



Jones, meanwhile, could not have been a more perfect casting choice to
provide the narrative voice of reality, the story's Mr. Righteous,
lawman essential to the film, as the "Old Man" with a wit as dry as
the surrounding desert brush, one step behind them at all times,
bearing witness to the destruction they've produced. He is always a
step behind the two main protagonists, intentionally so.
Allegorically, while Moss the laconic vet who finds the stash, is pure
"Stubbornness", Anton Chigurh is "Death", Wells (Woody Harrelson) is
"Pride", or possibly "Folly", Jones appears in the role of Melancholy
Wisdom. He's a lawman who tries to find Moss but not very hard. He'd
much rather address the camera and soliloquize on the sorry state of
affairs of mankind. His aging, overmatched cop doesn't even get harmed
but still might be the film's lone true victim, because of the
eloquent but stoic performance of Jones, who also serves as a
narrator. Jones' dialogue is humble, but poetic. He has an innate
power to his characterization which strongly demonstrates that he is
one of the most intense actors as he personifies the sheriff as a man
tired of watching the growing violence, driven by a sense of duty.
Interspersed throughout Chigurh's propensity for casual bloodshed, the
sheriff's musings are a welcome respite from a high body count, and an
elegy for a bygone breed of man, one who didn't need a gun to be a
lawman. His opening narration sets a philosophical tone, as he talks
of staring into the face of a convicted killer with little
understanding about what this world has come to. It's plain to see
towards the end of the film, that the seasoned Sheriff Bell is beyond
"tired". At some point in the film, he is just at arm's length from
the killer but what follows after, is an enormous surprise because
he's one of the "Old Men" in the title, who finds himself no longer
with a place in the world. He is the aged sage of the sagebrush,
mystified by the violence and amorality that, allegorically, Vietnam,
Watergate, crack cocaine and Ronald Reagan had and would inflict on
America.







Speaking of breakout roles, the performance by Oscar winner Bardem is
incredible, downright scary every single moment he's on screen, with a
sense of unflappable menace, countered by a watery-eyed gaze of
profound feeling that elevates his assassin extraordinaire beyond a
stiff Frankenstein of a sociopath. In the scene following the
handcuffed garroting, he kills a motorist with his preferred method of
murder: a jolt from an air gun, usually used to slaughter cattle, to
the forehead, and conveniently, he also uses it to open locks. As
Chigurh, a maniac of few words, bizarre, lacks empathy for others, and
with sick intelligence, he is fear-inspiring on first look and says as
much with his impassive demeanor and lack of swagger as he does with
his terse, literal dialogue. Bardem is able to push the rage and
violence down showing an unemotional character. Then a spark ignites
and he explodes. This performance is the very definition of greatness.
He is one of the smartest, fiercest, coldest, most methodical and
ruthless killers to ever draw blood on the silver screen, the type of
psycho that's as entrancing and potentially iconic as Hannibal Lecter,
immortalizing a new classic villain. The fate of the man's soul, to
which an explicit reference is made, lies not with God or Christ, but
with a metaphorical demon with a sadistic sense of whimsy. The
juxtaposition of Moss and Chigurh is fascinating. We watch them
operate with comparable efficiency, both sustain injuries, both treat
themselves. Both, skillful with firearms, are motivated by the money.
We learn that Moss has served two tours in Vietnam while Chigurh's
past is never revealed but, unlike Moss, he lacks any hint of remorse
or conscience and he believes only in fate. Unsettling, unpredictable,
amazingly evil, and strangely hilarious, he seems to defy the bullets
and he walks calmly as if nothing can happen to him. He's the God who
decides who lives or die. His "principles" are like the Ten
Commandments. In the end, he suffers an accident. That shows he can
survive the predictable but still is under real God's choice. Much of
that delightful uncertainty comes from Bardem's outstanding work.



One does not need to be a political science scholar to see the
politics of "No Country for Old Men". The film's title enables viewers
to view this film both geographically and politically. The geography
of West Texas is no place for old men, as we see clearly in the lives
of all the old men that death encounters. Moreover, the Coen Brothers
use the word 'Country' to extend to life in America, as well. This
film asks questions, ponders lament, and tries to make the statement
that Americans have tragically lost their way. This is not "3:10 to
Yuma" where it is about good versus evil, the battle of Moss versus
Chigurh, and viewers are denied the classic showdown of good versus
evil that we have come to expect. We cannot get used to the idea that
the war in Iraq is not a simple good versus evil, won't be won with a
resounding battle, and there is no satisfying Hollywood ending. The
more we try to chase down the terrorists, the more we will be
overtaken as Ellis tells Sheriff Bell. There is no riding off into the
sunset for Sheriff Bell. The statement that Sheriff Bell makes can be
seen in the contrast between America and Mexico. America is where the
money is, and for all of the idea that 'God is on our side', Americans
are seen to be motivated by nothing more than money, than greed, than
a few dollars, as said in "Fargo". They went to war for oil. They ban
toy guns, but make no laws to restrict real ones.


Moss says 'love you' to his wife, but he sacrifices all for money. It
never occurs to him that he is stealing blood money, made from the
devastation caused by drugs. Never occurs to him to give the money to
charity, or to feed the poor. This complete lack of care for others is
seen in every single American in the film. Each person death meets
travels alone. The gun store owner cannot wait to sell the shotgun and
shells, but he does not care what the guns will be used for. The
clothing store salesman sees Moss in hospital garb and he asks 'how
them boots holding up?' Not one person in America stops to help Moss
except, perhaps, the old man who gives him a ride and says 'you
shouldn't be doing that'.

The portrayal of every Mexican in America is straight out of the
stereotype that Americans have of 'wetbacks'. Contrast that with what
we see in Mexico. The only Mexicans we see are musicians, bringing joy
and happiness to everyone they encounter, or nurses in a hospital,
giving care to those hurt and ill. These people have nothing to fear
from Chigurh. They know that he will come for them one day, but until
that day, they will live each moment of their lives as if they were
correctly calling a coin flip. This contrast can especially be seen in
the border patrols. Americans laugh at the Mexican asleep at the
tower, yet it is he who couldn't care less what type of person Moss
is. Come in, welcome, be happy. It is the American patrol who is a
completely stupid, mean, and contemptible person, and it is only
because Moss went to Vietnam, to show that he should be helped
because, Americans support their troops.

The fact that Moss cannot bring the money into Mexico is very
suggestive. After all he's gone through, one would think he would keep
the case close by his side at all times, but instead he throws it over
the fence, on the American side of the river. He cannot take the money
into Mexico because it is at the root of all America's evils, in
contrast with Mexico where there is love and honor and brotherhood.
This is the way to challenge Chigurh. To laugh and play music and
enjoy every moment we have with each other. This suggests that
Americans have gone tragically wrong.

If a film's core value is based upon how much you talk about and think
about it afterwards, then "No Country for Old Men" is definitely one
of the best because it proves that a film as an artistic form can be
beautiful yet terrifying at the same time. Though very bloody and
extremely violent, this film is at times a surprisingly quiet,
meditative piece. It is one of the truly must see films for anyone who
appreciates the art of cinema. The directing, performances,
cinematography, soundtrack, and story were all top-notch and beyond
exceptional, nothing less than flawless and impeccable.