No Country for Old Men

Joel and Ethan Coen stand as two of my favorite filmmakers. Indisputable geniuses as directors, producers, editors and writers, their films hold special rank amongst the best of our generation. The Big Lebowski is in my opinion the smartest comedy ever written. O Brother, Where Art Thou? broke new ground in both the possibilities of adaptation (relocating Homer’s The Odyssey to the depression-era south) and color editing (they developed a new technique to attain the golden hue). Fargo and Blood Simple are near perfect crime thrillers.

With that preface I now say this: No Country for Old Men is the best they’ve ever done. Hell, it’s the best anyone could ever hope to do.

Adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel of the same name, No Country for Old Men takes us on the trail of Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), an opportunistic hunter who happens upon $2 million left over from a drug deal gone bad, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), the psychotic hit man hired to get it back, and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), the lawman chasing them both.

All three actors are pitch-perfect. Brolin plays the part of the every-man cowboy with a sincerity that gives the part the human touch it needs. He’s no super hero, but never slips into the self pity that afflicts so many films with a main character in dire circumstances (I call it Elijah Wood as Frodo syndrome).

Bardem is the scariest villain I’ve seen since Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. His scene with an old clerk in a convenience store will chill you to the bone, and Chigurh’s logic behind making the poor old sap call a coin flip for his life almost seems rational in its psychosis.

Tommy Lee Jones is a weary, wizened hard-ass; his gravely voice and worry lines give the sheriff an indescribable depth, his brief lines hinting at the iceberg hidden in the ocean. Jones’ wit and assurance as an actor make it possible for him to dispense old man anecdotal wisdom without sounding senile, or preachy.

Truly, all three deserve academy awards (but it’s tough to say who’s lead and who’s supporting).

I don’t want to go too much into the plot (I hate spoilers and I’d prefer to have each of you enjoy the film fresh), but let me tell you why I think No Country for Old Men is so damn good.

Like most Coen films, this one is unexpectedly funny (black comedy at its finest), but that’s not what sets No Country for Old Men apart (and I certainly wouldn’t call the film a comedy).

For most of their filmmaking careers, the knock on the Coens and their films has been that they have no soul. As masters of witty irreverence, adept storytelling and filmmaking technique, the brothers have few peers. They are able to maintain their unique, quirky style and create memorably offbeat characters while working within the Hollywood system (an admirable feat).

But I’ve heard them accused of being glib, their films described as having no cohesive purpose (which I always found odd because filmmakers are storytellers, not theologians or philosophers). They exist, they spin an entertaining yarn, but in the end they make no comment on society or culture.

No critic will be able to say this about Old Country for Old Men, and I would slap him if he tried. If you’re looking for a film dealing with the nature of humanity, No Country for Old Men offers an embarrassment of riches. It raises issues of ethics – Moss’s hands aren’t clean as he stole $2 million. Should he have kept the cash (would you)? Ultimately, does this make him culpable for the consequences?

It discusses the deterioration of morality. Thank God it’s never actually said, but the good sheriff realizes, after witnessing the tidal wave of violence, that this truly is no country for old men. He muses: “It starts when you begin to overlook bad manners. Anytime you quit hearing ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am,’ the end is pretty much in sight.”

My favorite theme is that of inevitability vs. chance, fate vs. choice. Never in a film (at least that I have seen) have these ideas been so thoughtfully presented (the Coens themselves seem to land firmly on one side). Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not going to tell you what I mean. It would be giving away too much. Seek and you will find. I urge you all to go see the film, experience it for yourselves, and spend some time ruminating.

I’ll leave you with a fair warning: the ending is not what you might expect. But spend some time thinking about the questions the end of the film raises, and I promise you’ll find it a rewarding experience.

Thanks for reading.