MPAA Rating: R for Strong Graphic Violence and some language
Distributed by Paramount Vantage, Miramax Films
Starring: Josh Brolin (Llewellyn Moss), Javier Bardem (Anton Chiguah), Tommy Lee Jones (Sherriff Ed Thomas Bell)
Produced, Written and Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
On the tenuous border between America and Mexico lies a tenuous line between order and chaos. The Coen Brothers paint an impeccably gritty and foreboding thriller. The Two Central characters Llewellyn Moss and Anton Chuguah are never captured in the same frame on camera, evidently there is one scene in which they were both present although I won’t divulge the particular scene, for those who have already viewed this film, they can infer from what I have revealed already.
Perhaps I use the term thriller loosely. No Country for Old Men is not a thriller in genre, it is an example of transcending genre conventions and an intricate examination into the nature of human instincts which are analogous to that of animals. Survival is often vital in harsh habitats of prevalent crime as at the border between Mexico and America, the tension between these two parties is often relentless. The land is barren and inhospitable, mountain shadows cast over the land bearing sanctuary from the intensity of the sun’s rays, such an uninhabitable area with very few examples of life present. The decent moral man is now the endangered species at the mercy of other predators.
This Film is narrated by Ed Thomas Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a Texan Sherriff from a long family line of Sheriffs, he represents a wise observer of this event. He often compares himself to those who preceded him with admiration.
The film’s villain is Anton Chiguah (Javier Bardem), a sociopathic bounty hunter, if the eyes are the windows to the soul, then what do Chiguah’s eyes contain?... Emptyness.
In the beginning in order to locate a means of transport that isn’t conspicuous, in a police car Chiguah has a man pull over and exit his car, ‘Could you hold still please,… sir’, Chiguah’s voice inhabits a calm equanimity, he subsequently shoots the aforementioned with a captive bolt pistol and enters the car using it as a means of transportation. What is astonishing about this character is that he murders casually and without remorse and to the extent of his actions.
The Protagonist, Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin), is depicted as the film’s decent man who abides by the law; an everyman, if you will. The first scene in which he is present, he is hunting pronghorn. This demonstrates a similarity between Chiguah and Moss, they’re both meticulous hunters, although Moss treats it as a sport and for Chiguah it is a career. Moss misses the pronghorn however he does wound it severely before it dies of exsanguination. Moss feels remorse for allowing the deer to suffer. He discovers a scene of a drug deal which has resulted violently and decides to seize a briefcase containing Two Million Dollars. What results is a wave of violence that consumes everyone in its wrath; no character emerges unscathed, not physically nor psychologically. The film’s visuals supplement its themes in that it evokes an intense barren atmosphere not evoked since Sam Peckinpah’s violent homage to the Wild West: The Wild Bunch (1969).
There are long intervals without dialogue; this complements such aspects of the film as Chiguah’s character, whose inability to communicate results in violence, his inability to communicate is somewhat ironic as he is one of the very few characters contained in this film who speaks in a manner which is grammatically correct, I could not help but to make that observation. Chiguah’s vacant demeanour and unfathomable nihilistic philosophy propel him to commit acts of unspeakable violence. For instance, when a gas station attendant attempts to initiate a light conversation, Chiguah responds with unwarranted hostility and skepticism, as though he is threatened and thus decides to use relentless defence mechanisms in order to survive. The gas station attendant is an old man past his prime, Chiguah uses this to his advantage and asserts his alpha-male dominance, this scene doesn’t spoon-fed the audience but perceptively observes the character’s conversation as a natural wildlife documentary would perceptively observe the natural instincts of the animals, save the narration. The gas station attendant was seconds before death and the noise of Chiguah releasing the plastic packaging and slowly expanding would be enough to send chills down the most desensitised person’s spine.
Chiguah’s relentlessness leaves instinct as the only viable means of escape, which all animals rely on when predators are at the pursuit of their prey. Sherriff Bell’s only response to this confluence of unfortunate events is bewilderment and incredulity and the revelation of failure. The Poem from which the film’s title is derived is titled ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ by William Butler Yeats. I have read the poem on Wikipedia, the title is contained in first sentence of the first stanza, the aforementioned excerpt is as follows:
‘There is no country for old men. The young in each other’s arms, birds in the trees ---- Those dying generations---- at their song.’
‘No country for old men’ refers to the natural world, in which the characters in this film inhabit.
Ultimately Sherriff Bell questions why such a catastrophic event occurred, he questions his principles as a decent moral man and questions the principles, or the lack thereof, instilled in Chiguah. Sometimes we have to accept the bitter truth which is that we can’t stop what’s comin’.
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