The Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” is not your run-of-the-mill movie. It transcended typical Western tropes and became a profound philosophical tale about the disorganized reality. It illustrated powerful emotions and thrilled viewers with its unorthodox nature. But while all this is great, this is also a very polarizing movie. Some felt astounded by its volatile storytelling and some asked why its ending lacked the punch. However, the supposedly lackluster conclusion is not a fault, but rather very deliberate. So, we ask ourselves, what is “No Country for Old Men” trying to tell us?
The movie starts with a brief commentary from an aged sheriff, Ed Tom Bell. While he narrates a nostalgic past, we get to see a policeman escorting a man in cuffs to the police station. In the station, the man in cuffs approaches from behind and strangles the policeman to death. Hence, the ominously decorated character, Anton Chigurh. After that, in a different location, we meet the main character, Llewelyn Moss. He stumbles upon the scene of a massacre and finds two million dollars that belong to a corporation. It was a failed drug deal that ended in a gunfight. He takes the money and flees. The corporation soon sends merciless murderer Anton Chigurh to chase Moss. Meanwhile, Sheriff Bell tries to trail Chigurh. Things soon take radical turns and we experience Moss’s death, Chigurh’s escape from a near-busted scenario, and Sherrif Bell’s retirement due to the accumulated frustration.
The movie does not end on thrills, however. It ends on a whimper. Before the screen cuts to black, we are served with a small dialogue between Bell and a lady. Bell talks about a dream he had about reaching a destination to meet his father, but then he woke up. This metaphorical failure probably explains his disappointment in the world. Bell has a lingering guilt for failing to overcome the difficulties. He thinks the world is too unfamiliar and he is not fit to compete.
The movie does not entertain the classic Western archetype of “good triumphs over bad”. It rather emphasizes the reality of chaos reigning over the faithful and the moral. At the end of the movie, Chigur almost gets caught after killing a woman and we become hopeful for justice. But disappointment follows as he escapes. This shock value is pretty consistent throughout the movie. We see the gas station scene where Chigurh confronts the proprietor and leaves his life on the chance of a coin toss. The thrill is elevated when we see his life spared as the coin is flipped on the side he selected. In the scene where Chigurh confronts Moss, we believe Moss will live because he is the protagonist. Instead, we see his demise. Our comfortable faith in karma and justice is challenged as everything seems random. The movie stays very skeptical of the world’s assurance. It implies that the world is random and chaotic, and we only believe what seems convenient.
Another thing the film might be telling us is how nostalgia is a deceptive factor. We see Bell seamlessly rooting for the “old world”. He narrates how sheriffs in the past did not need to carry a gun, implying the innocence of the past. Bell cannot understand the way of the new world, and one way that is outlined is by his technologically challenged persona. This bewilderment of the new world leaves him confused and uncomfortable. This may all seem too relatable to us as we too experience the alienity as we mature. To shield ourselves from frustration, we often breathe in nostalgia, but it might not be a safeguard, only a solace.
Throughout its two hour runtime, the movie strikes us with unfamiliarity, randomness, and recollection. The Coen Brothers have created a masterpiece of unorthodox nature, and it has cemented its legacy as a classic that continues to manifest curiosity about the ideas it champions. We probably will never be this baffled while watching a Western again.
Saugata Debnath can be reached at [email protected]
Jeff
One of the great things about art is it leaves perception up to the viewer. I perceived the dreams differently. The first was the "money" that he lost was in fact his father giving him logic/knowledge, the ways of the world as they were at the time, which isn't a whole lot different than they are now, in 1980 as the case my be. In other words, his nostalgia makes him THINK the world was a nicer place then. It wasn't as his friend describes to him when he tells the story of a sheriff shot dead in his own doorway and how his widow had to bury him herself "in the old times." In other words, the knowledge that he "lost" was being able to accurately remember times, and crimes, have always been bad involving murders et al. Second dream was the realization his father, who is dead, is keeping a fire burning to comfort Ed Tom when he passes. The whole point is Ed Tom is an "Old (Men) man" in a "Country" where there is "No" place "for" in. He is past his time and is facing not only his own obsolescence job wise but death too. He is "the older man" and is facing death from old age and he knows it. You can see it in the way Tommy Lee plays the anguish on his face. He isn't relaxed like a retired man should be. He is pained by the knowledge he is facing the end, not only of his job, but his life. And with this premonition/dream of warmth and reunited with his dead father, the world shocks him back into the reality that things aren't like in the old times he remembers. He is brought back into the REAL WORLD by...he woke up, thus shattering the reality/dream he was being comforted by being by his father and fireside. It's beautiful really. Makes me choke up everytime I see it. Wonderful way to end the film. The Coen's are amazing in how they tell a story.
Clayton Miller
The first dream involved meeting his father, who entrusted him with some money, but Bell thinks he lost it. The second one featured father and son riding together through a snowy mountain pass on horseback, with Bell’s father riding ahead to light a fire in the darkness in front of them. Bell reveals he woke from the dream, and No Country For Old Men cuts to black. Bell’s dreams really encapsulate the meaning of No Country For Old Men. The retired sheriff doesn’t attach much meaning to his first dream, but it appears to symbolize his lingering guilt over Moss’ death. Just like in his dream, he was entrusted with a task but he failed, despite promising Jean he would succeed. He likely feels this on a subconscious level, but he can’t put the feeling into words, hence the dream. This failure is what led to his retirement, due to feeling overmatched for the job. The second dream is one where audiences are split over the meaning. Like Bell notes before recalling his dreams, he’s 20 years older than his father ever was meaning he’s now the old man. In the dream, he and his father are back in simpler times, riding through the snow and cold together. From the opening narration, it’s clear Bell yearns for the past, where good and evil were clearly defined and the world made some kind of sense to him. The fire his father is carrying “in a horn the way people used to do” could symbolize his hope that the flame of those values will be carried forward into the darkness of the unknown future. That said, Bell suddenly waking up could signify that not only do those traditions not exist, they never really did—and he’s coming to realize this.