| Video Review |
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| Written by Gerry Hill | |
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Source: Casablanca Entertainment, Klein Windhoek
Film: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN Directors and Screenplay: Ethan and Joel Coen Players: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson, Josh Brolin, Kelly McDonald Genre: action, crime, thriller Rating: **** This film won 4 Oscars, including Best Direction and Best Film for 2008, so it is worthy of close analysis. Apparently, it has won, in total, 85 awards.
Parts are brilliant, particularly the moody cinematography which
captures the soul of the American mid-west, around Rio Grande. In fact,
I would go so far as to claim that one of the strengths of the film is
its depiction of all things American: the scenery which shouts ‘space’;
the psychological issues surrounding greed and revenge, not to mention
the propensity for violence and shooting people; the moral polarity of
good and evil, with a realistic appraisal of the relative strength of
each.
Perhaps actor Bardem deserved his Oscar for an Actor in a Supporting Role for his interpretation of arch-villain, Anton Chigurh, who doggedly pursues his prey and kills remorselessly en route anyone who crosses his path. Cast in the same vein as Hannibal Lector, Chigurh is so psychopathic, so emotionally dead, so without any sense of morality that one questions whether such a human being could exist – or escape psychological examination and counselling. A much more interesting character is Llewelyn Moss (Brolin), an ex-welder and hunter, who sets in motion the whole chain of circumstances. He is poor but tough; he is both moral and immoral; he is ruthless but also compassionate. After discovering a mass killing in the desert from a drug deal gone awry, Llewelyn returns home with a case containing $2Million to ponder the sole survivor in a pick-up truck who whispered ‘Water’. He returns to the scene with water, discovers that the man has subsequently died and himself the victim of a stakeout. Absconding with the suitcase ensures that he is now the hunted, not the hunter. Perhaps morality is not a question of black and white: perhaps it is not always easy to judge the difference between good and evil with absolute clarity. In this film, evil is most clearly defined - by the character of Chigurh and also by the denouement of the plot when this evil character walks away, injured but unbowed. He also has the money, we are led to assume. On the other hand, the ‘good’ characters in this film seem remarkably powerless. Sheriff Bell (Lee Jones) introduces the film in a voiceover in which he reminisces about a teenage killer he once arrested who was judged to have killed his parents in a crime of passion; the teenager disputed the judgement, claiming that he had no strong feelings on the subject. He had looked forward to killing and had anticipated the act of so doing. Sheriff Bell is nearing retirement; he has developed a cynical detachment to crimes and killing, which make him largely inert; he may anticipate events but does little to pre-empt them. One may feel ambivalent about Llewelyn, who steals the money in the suitcase, but he does earn the viewer’s respect, if not admiration: he is good to his wife; anticipates her interests and safety; returns to help a stranger; and generally operates according to a set of principles. A third character is Carson Wells (Harrelson), a bounty hunter, who can define the motivation of Chigurh with some precision: he achieves nothing else before he, too, is gunned down. |
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