No Country for Old Men; film by Joel & Ethan Coen

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Analysis of the book

Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men is a chilling thriller about a murder investigation involving three prominent characters; Ed Tom Bell, a sheriff, Llewellyn Moss, a hunter, and Anton Chigurgh, a psychopathic killer. In a town where greater violence requires greater law enforcement, a drug-related massacre calls into question how greed, revenge, and pride begin to shape the morality of three divergent individuals. McCarthy’s violent and suspenseful novel examines the lives of a good and bad protagonist and a middleman who struggles to navigate in between them. No Country for Old Men highlights the themes of chance, freewill, and fate and how these factors play a role in determining the life and death of the characters within the novel. McCarthy’s dismissal of proper punctuation forces readers to focus on the story’s action and events, giving off a sense of urgency throughout the narrative.

  1. Analysis of the film

The Coen brother’s film highlights many of the significant themes within the novel, with a focus on Moss’s decision-making process when questioning the battle between right and wrong. As an old-western themed story, the film opens with a shot of Texas’ barren landscape to stress the significance of the novel’s time and setting. The high-tension and action-packed scenes examines the role of weapons, violence, and death in modern American culture to signify how changes in society cause tension between the young and elderly in their attitudes and modes of thinking. The film is successful in the portrayal of its characters as straight-faced and stoic men who stop at nothing to do what they believe is right and just.

  1. Analysis of the adaption

Overall, the adaptation was faithful to the original work due to its similarity within character depictions, dialogue, scenery and attitude. Offering a single person point-of-view, rather than an emphasis on three different perspectives, the film was more fast-paced compared to the novel. In addition, the filmmakers took advantage of opportunities for comedic relief despite the absence of those moments within the original writing. For instance, the chase scene involving Moss shooting a dog did not appear in the text version. Although the film was less graphic than the novel’s depictions, the film rendered a western and post-modern feel that accurately resembled the overall tone and setting.

  1. Online research on film

William J. Devlin’s essay, No Country for Moral Men, for the Bridgewater Review examines the the central features of a Western film and discusses the vast differences found in No country for Old Men. Unlike typical Western productions, Devlin believes that this film “shatters both the moral framework and the stability that Westerns have provided us.” First, there is not definite “good” and “bad” figure. Second, the Western narrative does not provide a happy ending where the good defeats evil. And last, since a “final showdown” is not present within the film, the stability of the Western film collapses. Devlin’s essay explores the film’s “new, more nihilistic form” and discusses how it challenges traditional Western film structures.

In this interview with the Coen Brothers for abc.net, David Stratton sits down with the directors as Josh Brolin describes how important the setting of Texas was when creating suspense within the film.

Within Film Quarterly, Leo Braudy writes an article called “Whose Country?” to share his thoughts on the reasons for the film’s success–having received multiple accolades ranging from the Directors Guild, the Screen Actors Guild, and the Oscar for Best Director(s) and Best Picture. He describes the film’s genre as a “comic turnaround of a classic Western plot” and compares its structure to other western films like The Wild Bunch (1969), Unforgiven (1992)and There Will Be Blood (2007).

  1. Critical Argument

The adaptation of the film’s ending works because it hints at notions of free will and morality without having to say anything definitively. In some respect, it can be considered a happy ending because it shows that Bell has reached a level of realization in accepting that his ambitions were too great for him to achieve. Although there are many ways to interpret it, the ending is unique because it allows viewers to decipher the meaning for themselves. The ending line, “And then I woke up,” signifies a moment when Bell reaches a moment of truth. Viewers may feel uneasy about the film’s ending due to its abrupt closing which offers no closure or reassurance. The ending works because it does not provide a climactic sanctification and it leaves viewers wondering if things get better for Bell or if he continues to be haunted by his dreams. Ending the scene unexpectedly with no resolution works because it symbolizes that within the movie, and in life, the events that follow are uncertain and happy endings are not guaranteed.  Joel and Ethan Coen’s adaptation is faithful to Cormac McCarthy’s work but still offers an interesting twist to highlight the significant themes explored within the novel.

 

 

 

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