with No Country for
Old Men
While hunting antelope in the desolate Texan desert near the Rio Grande, Llewelyn Moss’ day takes a strange turn when he happens upon a drug deal gone awry. The scene is one of pure carnage as shell casings glimmer in the unforgiving sun and bloodied bodies lay strewn with vacant eyes of disbelief. Using his keen tracking ability, Llewelyn locates a case full of millions of dollars and, in a moment of weakness, decides to abscond with case in hand. Little does he know, he has unleashed a fury so uncompromising that the only thing left to do is run.
Tommy Lee Jones has been getting high praise from critics, but his role is essentially a well-directed reprisal of countless past efforts. Tommy Lee always seems to have a man-hunt going on somewhere. The true story behind No Country is the riveting performance of Javier Bardem as the assassin Anton Chigurh. One can only hearken back to Kevin Spacey’s role in Seven to find a villain that comes close to Bardem’s level of intensity and madness.
As with most Coen films, there is always an intriguing take on the deterioration of certain social morays and No Country is no exception. In this film, the Coens explore avarice and make a concerted effort to show that as blood money changes hands throughout the film we find that all people, no matter the profile, are susceptible to its allure. It plays as a stark reminder of the precarious position our capitalist society holds by accepting such a material bedfellow. This is where the Coens transcend celluloid: amidst a fantastical storyline they are able to comment on the true nature of life.