The Two-Head Director, as Coen brothers are called by their movie-making colleagues, created “No Country for Old Men” in 2007. Based on the same-name novel of Cormac McCarthy, at first glance, the movie depicts a trivial chase-thriller story. A good guy who took money from the mafia is chased by a Russian killer who is chased in turn by a sheriff. The plot is simple and sometimes even primitive. However, the picture has been nominated for dozens of the most prestigious awards, including four Oscars (Reagan). The movie’s box office was $ 171 million, while the budget constituted $ 25 million. Such a success presents a surprising contrast to the primitive plot along with the absence of computer graphics on the screen. The varying interpretations of the picture’s effect on the audience start with the question about the lead character of the story. The film is introduced with a monolog of Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) as well as his reflections finalize the movie. The title of the story conveys the meanings of his speculations on the “old-timers” in a tabloid form. Some critics consider Sheriff Bell to be the main character, whose conflict between the old-timer’s worldview and the existing reality comprises the central idea of the story. The figure of Sheriff Bell symbolizes the old America of lawmen who “even never wore guns.” However, the theme can be recognized more widely as the everlasting antagonism of good and evil. In such a context, the hero of the story is Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin). He is a typical cowboy-type American, univocal goodie, who commands the sympathy of the audience with his human behavior. Didacticism is redundant in considering his decision to pick up $2 million, which appeared out of nowhere. His mistakes are dictated by his human nature, where Christian behavior can be traced. He has subjected to abuse himself and his family, returning to a wounded gangster with water. However, in his case, the most untypical for American cinema is that the hero dies in the end. The antagonist and the absolute villain of the picture is the killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who chases Moss in an unpreventable manner. This character is the most impressive personage described in detail. The fatalistic manner he acts in, along with the fact that he remains alive in the end, makes some critics identify Chigurh as the lead character of the story. He is not actually a person. He is a personification of fate, the doom with nothing human in his eyes. He tosses a coin each time when the alternative concerning somebody’s life takes place. Thus, the third opinion about the theme of the picture identifies fatality or karma as the most general subject of the story. Nevertheless, no one from the three personages is obvious enough to be the absolute lead character of this complex picture.
The Coens demonstrate their mastership, making the audience hang on the screen where events unfold in a linear manner, often without dialogues. No flashbacks, sepia, or other special means and techniques that could take the audience away from the chronological diary-type narration. The video sequence is so simple and powerful that music is almost absent. The viewer traces the plot moving together with the characters through the over-realistic picture without impressive special effects. The Coens have managed to depict the story of McCarthy’s novel very close to his text. Watching the movie is similar to reading the book. Passing by each scene, the viewer has no questions regarding the script that remain to be answered. The biggest part of the plot can be understood even if the sound is switched off. The only puzzle remaining for the audience is the final of the story, which should be conjectured personally.
The casting of the actors is worth special noticing. The Coen brothers were planning Heath Ledger for the role of Moss. He refused, while Josh Brolin has made special efforts to get the role. He asked his friend Robert Rodriguez to make a short film with him instead of passing the movie test. The image of Moss represented by Josh Brolin is monolithic and natural. Being cast in a simple mold, he is attractive enough to empathize.
The great Tommy Lee Jones is absolutely seamless in Sheriff Bell’s role. It seems to be specially created for him. His sorrowful eyes, along with a little bit of brutal handsomeness, correspond to monologues of the “old-timer” and the general mood of the axiomatic sheriff. He evokes a lot of trusts incarnating the merry old America with a cold attitude to money and high moral norms.
Sometimes the most absurd incongruity provides the best result. Javier Bardem hates violence, according to his own claim. His Chigurh, however, is one the most horrible movie villains. The image is out of the beaten path. The pneumatic device as a murder weapon in his hands terrifies stronger than guns and rifles. Chigurh is an evil personification. He creates the impression of the fatal cold doom or even the death. Terminator has more human features than Bardem’s Chigurh.
The Coens investigate the smallest particulars on the screen. The image of the 1980s has no slips or carelessness. Costumes, cars, props, everything dedicated to time-and-place factors are worked over to a dot. Dipping into the atmosphere of the pre-digital era is full. The special graduation of the unostentatious, soft, and somewhere faded colors of the video arises the sensation of authentic old camerawork. Subtle but impressive photography techniques produce additional messages to the viewer. Different angles and movements of the camera in similar scenes in Moss’s trailer result in different feelings and attitudes toward Chigurh and Sheriff Bell. They sit in course on the same sofa and look at the gray screen of the antediluvian TV drinking milk from Moss’ fridge. The slightest differences in how both scenes are shown influence the audience in the perception of the killer and the sheriff (Emerson).
Critics together with the audience recognize the pedagogic keynote among other features of the Coen brothers’ thrillers. The “No Country for Old Men” is not the exception. However, the moral aspect of this story is not clearly evident. The evil is not beaten. Chigurh survives in a sudden car crash, Moss and his wife are killed, and Sheriff Bell retires, giving up the struggle. The story looks interrupted and uncompleted. Most probably, this understatement is the running feature of the Coens in this picture. They leave a space for the viewers’ imagination. Such a nontrivial effect as pushing people to think over the story when the movie is finished impresses the audience requiring their further reconsideration.
Works Cited
Emerson, Jim. “No Country for Old Men: Out in All That Dark” Scanners With Jim Emerson. Web. 2007.
Reagan, Gillian. “No Country takes 4 at Oscar” New York Observer. Web. 2008.