No Country for Old Men is an Academy Award-winning 2007 film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem. The film is based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men. The film won four Oscars, including Best Movie, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Writer.
It begins with a drug deal that goes awry, began the journey of destiny that determines the fate of the three main characters. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a Vietnam war veteran, found the illicit money of the transaction and, as has become the basic instinct of every human being confronted with a choice that looks favorable, takes it. The money owner then sends Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) to get it back. Realizing something bad was going and going, an old sheriff named Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) tracked both in hopes of saving Moss from Chigurh's threat. And finally, we were treated to a unique hunting scene. The three of them are interconnected, however, except for the scene where Moss and Chigurh shoot each other, the three never in one space, time and frame simultaneously.
The story of No Country for Old Men took a backdrop in the Texas area of the 1980s. To imagine the western part of America, an area which displays the impression of a forgotten suburb of a civilization, barren and arid, inseparable from the nuances of violence and the laws of nature where the strong can survive. It could be because that's where the western United States became a source of inspiration for cowboy movies, where law and justice are voiced with the muzzle of a rifle.
In western movies, we often see a fight between good and evil, where good deeds always defeat evil. Although this movie can be categorized in similar genres, No Country for Old Men does not fall into such stereotypes. In fact, his character cannot be seen in black and white, although by any moral standards, we know who the right hand of evil in this movie. But where is the good guy?
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Viewed from a moral, religious, and legal perspective, Chigurh is a bad person. But even though he was a murderer, he did not do it blindly. He has principles. It is not he who determines whether the person he or she met was killed or not, but the fate the man chose was based on a coin toss. A murderer who has his own code of ethics standards kills without mercy but keeps himself safe from the blood of his victim. He is a kind of biblical representation of the angel of death, wherever he steps always carries the shadows of death. And when he violates that principle by killing Moss's wife, he gets his punishment.
The Moss character is a bit confusing. He was ambitious, stubborn, and greedy, but he was also worried about his wife's safety. He also had time to return to the scene of the transaction with a drink, but it was just to treat his guilt. As a war alumnus, he had high self-esteem. When he found dead bodies, he had a choice. Armed with the confidence that he can overcome the risks that will arise, he decided to find the money. The choice that turns it from a hunter to being hunted.
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As a sheriff, Tom Bell is not an ideal character. Instead of being a law-enforcer who wants to capture criminals with all his might, he seems to have been unwilling to deal directly with Chigurh because, as he said at the beginning, "will not take part of something that is not understood." That's what keeps him one step behind compared with Chigurh or Moss. Tom Bell is the Parent in this movie. He tries to define his place in a world no longer able to understand its characteristics. Unlike his ever-vigilant deputy, he was seen many times entering the scene of the crime without setting up his weapon because he felt that it was not necessary. In his time, it may not be necessary. But when he finally realized it, when he came to the location of Moss's murder, it was too late. This is not the time again. There is no place for parents in such a brutal world.
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Tuesday, January 30, 2018
