Movie Log: No Country for Old Men
The film adaptation of No Country for Old Men is the Coen Brothers at their finest.
It reminds me of Harold Bloom’s reaction to Blood Meridian: he started reading, threw it across the room because he was so angry at how violent it was, picked up, finished, and proclaimed it the greatest modern American novel.
“No Country” was one of the most brilliant, but also one of the most sickening, films I’ve ever seen. When the credits started rolling, I felt tired, overwhelmed, and wrung out. The film reminds me of the end of The Mission, where Father Gabriel tells Rodrigo that he isn’t strong enough to live in a world in which violence is the right answer. Except in this case, there is no question, there is just violence. Though the film did have its black humor interludes, one only laughed because, as the sheriff says at one point, what else can you do? The humor here is blacker than Fargo; in fact, the tone of the film is really Fargo with all the happiness sucked out of it. No happiness and no relief.
(spoilers follow)
It was brilliantly acted, of course. In particular, in the scene in which Anton confronts Carson Wells, the fear was palpable, the sense of inevitability horrifying. In any scene in which Anton Chigurh appeared, there was both the slight hope that the scene would end differently, combined with the dread of certainty that it could not end any other way, making the film all the more wrenching and cruel.
The sheriff retires at the end of the movie, unable to handle a world in which such nonsensical violence exists, and it is a testament to the Coen Brothers’ sheer genius that after the film, I felt the same way about the world, too. Just as the sheriff did, I wanted to retreat and retire from a world that would provide such a monster as Anton Chigurh and no resolution, no explanation, retribution nor relief. One need only look forward to simple things, like going riding the next morning. The killer keeps on walking, relentless and unstoppable. Even the smallest hint of a Fargo-esque resolution in which the villains get their dues is snatched away at the end, when Anton gets up and walks away. Who would want to continue in a world as black as that?
It was a horrible film, and it was a brilliant film. It is a work of genius and of sickening cruelty. It is one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time, but now I need to go wash all the blackness from my mood.
