Review: No Country For Old Men

With Easter break upon us and rainy weather in the forecast, it’s the perfect time to head to the local video store and check out the latest movie releases. Out of all of the possibilities, by far the best new release is last year’s hit, No Country for Old Men. I have absolutely no idea why a film that won best picture, director, supporting actor and adapted screenplay at the Oscars as well as 83 other awards would not even be given as a voting choice for a campus movie. The Coen brother’s latest film completely lives up to all of the praise and critical acclaim.

Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men plays into the Coen brother’s fascination with tales revolving around ill-gotten money (ie. The Big Lebowski, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou). When “good ole’ boy” Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon the bloody aftermath of a heroin deal gone awry during a hunting trip in the Texas desert, he finds a satchel containing two million dollars. What ensues is a race between the American dealers and Mexican smugglers to find the money and Moss. Llewelyn’s most dangerous foe, however, comes from neither group but rather the rogue hitman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Chigurh is a cattle gun-wielding psychopath with a bad bowl cut and eerie accent who kills often and at will. Aging Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) has seen enough violence caused by the drug trade to know that Moss is in serious danger, and attempts to find him before the others. As Moss grows tired of running and seeks to confront Chigurh, Bell, following Chigurh’s trail of bodies, becomes increasingly discouraged about the state of humankind.

Every single character in the movie is perfectly portrayed, from Bardem’s cold and calculated Chigurh to Brolin’s tough and persistent Moss. Equally intriguing is Jones’ portrayal of a man weary and lost in a world he can’t seem to understand. Woody Harrelson’s appearance as gun-for-hire Carson Wells is also a treat.

Although the Coen brothers do complete justice to McCarthy’s work, I highly recommend reading the book as a complement to the film. It highlights much more clearly Bell’s struggles to find his place in an ever-changing and increasingly violent world. Through Bell, McCarthy asks readers to think about and question the direction of American morality.

Movies as great as No Country for Old Men are a rare thrill. Every second of the film is entertaining and every character is so perfectly played that the viewer gets completely lost in the story. McCarthy and the Coens address human morality in a way that films rarely do. They provoke, frighten, and thrill us into searching our own souls and questioning the world around us.