You Can't Stop What's Coming!: "No Country for Old Men"

I've seen The Coens' "No Country for Old Men" numerous times since it was first released last year. Each time I watch it I find something new, even if it's a piece of dialogue I never noticed, or if its a slight reaction from an actor. The film has been widely praised as a triumphant return for the Coens after a string of critical and box office disappointments. After watching many of the Coens' films this month, this one definitely struck me as perhaps their darkest film. The film deals with death, and violence like in many of the Brother's work, however perhaps no other film has taken such a grim stance on it.

There are three major characters in "No Country for Old Men", the first is Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) a good old boy who stumbles upon a botched drug deal in the middle of a Texas desert. After looking through the carnage, he finds a satchel containing two million dollars and decides to take it for himself. The second man is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) a hitman who stops at nothing to find Moss, and kill him. Chigurh is less a real person, than a spectre of death. And finally there is Sheriff Ed Tom (Tommy Lee Jones) who is pursuing Moss and trying to get him back safe before Chigurh does. Ed Tom is the "Old Man" in the title, and it's really him who is coming to a realization that the world is changing, and it's him that must make a choice at the end.

"No Country for Old Men" was based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy and is one of the few times the Coens have used other material to base their films on. I've read the McCarthy book before seeing the film and remember feeling very uneasy with it. The Coens remain faithful to the book, however I would say they do add their own touch of humour to the story I didn't find in the McCarthy story.

The dialogue in the film is a nice blend of both the Coens and McCarthy's words, no more so than the gas station scene where Chigurh is talking to the attendant.

Anton Chigurh: What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss.

Gas Station Proprietor: Sir?

Anton Chigurh: The most. You ever lost. On a coin toss.

Gas Station Proprietor: I don't know. I couldn't say. [Chigurh flips a quarter from the change on the counter and covers it with his hand]

Anton Chigurh: Call it.

Gas Station Proprietor: Call it?

Anton Chigurh: Yes.

Gas Station Proprietor: For what?

Anton Chigurh: Just call it.

Gas Station Proprietor: Well, we need to know what we're calling it for here.

Anton Chigurh: You need to call it. I can't call it for you. It wouldn't be fair.

Gas Station Proprietor: I didn't put nothin' up.

Anton Chigurh: Yes, you did. You've been putting it up your whole life you just didn't know it. You know what date is on this coin?

Gas Station Proprietor: No.

Anton Chigurh: 1958. It's been traveling twenty-two years to get here. And now it's here. And it's either heads or tails. And you have to say. Call it.

Gas Station Proprietor: Look, I need to know what I stand to win.

Anton Chigurh: Everything.

Gas Station Proprietor: How's that?

Anton Chigurh: You stand to win everything. Call it.

Gas Station Proprietor: Alright. Heads then. [Chigurh removes his hand, revealing the coin is indeed heads]

Anton Chigurh: Well done. [the gas station proprietor nervously takes the quarter with the small pile of change he's apparently won while Chigurh starts out]

Anton Chigurh: Don't put it in your pocket, sir. Don't put it in your pocket. It's your lucky quarter.

Gas Station Proprietor: Where do you want me to put it?

Anton Chigurh: Anywhere not in your pocket. Where it'll get mixed in with the others and become just a coin. Which it is. [Chigurh leaves and the gas station proprietor stares at him as he walks out]


Each time I view this scene I just get sucked in by the words used and the tension that is built. It's hypnotic the way the scene is played, we the audience aren't sure at the beginning what is going on, and we're as flabbergasted as the Gas Station Proprietor. I would call it one of the great written scenes in modern film. Chigurh is not a thing of fate, he is death and sooner or later you will meet up with him.

Even though the manhunt between Moss and Chigurh take up the bulk of this story, it's really just a commentary of the way the world works now and how things have changed in Ed Tom's eyes. Chigurh is a thing that can't be understood, Ed Tom is trying to make sense of the whole thing, but he can't. In a scene near the end, Ed Tom goes through a door, where we see Chigurh on the other side. This is the moment Ed Tom must decide weather or not he can face what's behind the door, he goes in, but in another Coens moment, Chigurh is nowhere to be found.

The last twenty minutes of the film or so have been behind a great controversy. Ed Tom and Chigurh never meet for a final showdown. What happens instead is Ed Tom chooses to retire and Chigurh is wounded in a car crash. The final moment happens with Ed Tom talking to his wife about a couple of dreams he had about his father. The Coens use the idea of dreams a lot in their films such as the final moments in "Raising Arizona" or Tom's dream with his hat in "Miller's Crossing". The final dream Ed Tom talks about with his father is a perfect ending to the film. Ed Tom has come to a sort of realization with this new world, he doesn't want to be a part of it, it doesn't make sense to him.

Death is a big part of "No Country for Old Men", not just because many people are killed in the film, but also because it's something that is inescapable. Chigurh is a type of character that challenges our own mortality. Everyone in the film never sees him coming in a sense, but they all have to deal with him, Ed Tom is the one who knows this the most at the end, it doesn't matter what you do it's coming.