December 5, 2012
Dr. Childs
English 1301
Looking At The Darker Side in “No Country for Old Men”
We live
amongst a world where good and evil lurks everywhere. We as humans acquire
humane traits that help guide us to make the best decisions for our life and
everyone around us. Some people however, have a sense of unexplainable evil
that lingers inside them. The actions of evil are cold blooded and ruthless.
The Character in the movie “No Country
for Old Men”, Anton Chigurh, plays a relentless villain who brutally kills
anyone within his sight with no feeling of remorse while he hunts down Llewelyn
Moss. “No Country for Old Men” really
touches subjects with cruelty and bloodshed violence shown in society all
around the world represented by the actions of Anton Chigurh. This movie not
only provides a less romanticized ending but also portrays the darker light on
violence through Anton Chigurh.
The
movie was based on Cormac’s McCarthy’s First Novel, “No Country for Old Men”. (Cooper 38) The movie setting is in West Texas
and starts with a man named Llewelyn Moss, who finds two million dollars in
drug money in between what we see as a Mexican drug battle. Moss takes it in
hopes of a better life for him and his wife. Moss eventually finds himself
running away from the ultimate hit man, Anton Chigurh. Throughout the movie, Anton
Chigurh comes off an unknown monster that everyone is dodging. Many people
actually never meet Chigurh and when they do, a series of unfortunate events
follow. (Cooper 51) Chigurh follows Moss, tracking his every move. In the
beginning of the movie, you see the scene where Chigurh is being taken to the
police station. As the deputy talks on the phone, Chigurh comes up behind the
deputy and puts him in a chokehold with his handcuffs until the man is choked
to death. This man is very capable of murder and doesn’t take peoples lives
seriously. He seems to look at living as more of a chance kind of deal. Such as
the scene where Chigurh offers the working man in the gas station a choice of
heads or tails on a coin. If the coin did not favor the man’s choice, Chigurh
probably would of blown the man’s head off with the oxygen tank weapon he
notoriously carries around. Novelist Cormac McCarthy tends to point out the
“widespread violence in the world”. (Collado-Rodriguez 46) The movie portrays all sorts of evils in the
world that happen. Everyday there are homicides, rape, and murder all over the
world. There could be thousands of reasons for a person’s wrongdoing but what
happens when someone commits a crime just for the sake of it? That brings us up
to a whole new level of violence that no one can explain. (Nichols 211)
Violence
is created in the world for many reasons. We as people have feelings like being
happy, sad, and angry. People often commit crimes out of some sort of anger and
spite. In some cases, people are also in some sort of trauma and have
psychological problems. (Collado-Rodriguez 47) For example, Colorado’s more
recent tragedy with the Dark Knight Rises Batman Premiere shooting that wounded
over thirty people and killed twelve. (Sandell, Dolak, and Curry) The
alleged gunman, James Holmes, was said to have mental issues and did have a
rough time his prior months in Aurora, Colorado. Many people claim to say he is
mentally insane and I feel like that’s what’s people really want to hear. When
tragedy’s like this happens, it scares society to see that people are plotting
and planning acts of destruction similar to this one. It is foreign for people
to see that there are humans in the world who would actually commit meaningless
actions like this. (Nichols 211) Everyone in the world has a sense of humanity
but I think its safe to say that for some people, its just not there. McCarthy’s
evil character, Anton Chigurh, is the epitome of the evil in our world.
Anton
Chigurh Character does do a good job of killing people so quick that it doesn’t
look painful. He just points up his oxygen gun and punctures a perfect circle
through their brain and that’s done. They’re dead. Chigurh often kills his
victims like he is playing a game of russian roulette. He kills people as he
was just taking the spin and pointing the revolver at his victim. His view in
life is like a game of chance, a big theme in the movie. Llewelyn’s wife, Carla
Jean gets offered a chance for survival. He waits for her in a house and gives
Carla Jean a choice of heads or tails; similar to the earlier scene at the gas
station. Carla refuses to pick and goes on telling Chigurh that it was not up
to the coin for her fate of life or death but only his choice. (Nichols 209) It was his choice to kill her and it has
always been a choice he could of made with all the other people he has murdered.
Chigurh doesn’t seem to grasp that concept as a good enough reason and is a
firm believer that it wasn’t his choice. As Curl says, He is the “killer of principal who frequently forces his victims to choose
their own fate.” Even
though “he seems to use this “system of fate” as an excuse for his actions, it
is him who is making these dictions not a higher power” making it not anyone’s fault
but himself. (Reynolds) Many
scenes in the movie show evidence that Chigurh’s actions are brutal and he wont
stop for anyone. He believes that he was sent out to do these acts of
immortality and it was just fate that he was in right time and place. (Cooper
37)
Chigurh
does not show any mercy or any sign of emotion throughout the whole film. He
gets wounded twice and at both times; he handles it as if he could not feel the
immensity of the pain. In the ending scene of the movie, Chigurh gets into a collision
with a car, which wounds his arm. A kid goes up to Chigurh looking worried as
he sees that Chigurh has a bone sticking out of his arm. The wide-eyed kid
looked frantic and exclaims that the ambulance was coming. Instead of waiting
for help, Chigurh pays the kid a generous amount of money for the kid’s shirt
and a closed mouth. Chigurh will then move on with his life, on the way to kill
more people. (Nichols 209) Through the movie, His character remains impersonal
and frigid. He never shows a lighter side of humanity in him and brings us to
see that evil does not stop. (Cooper 51) Chigurh “is responsible
for the deaths of many, justified in his own moral less mind.” (Clark)
Chigurh
chilling presence remains consistent and that’s probably what made the movie a
thriller. (Cooper 52) In scenes where he would come close to Llewelyn left people
at the edge of their seats. He became the ultimate bad guy that seemed
invincible. His actions are never explained throughout the film and Chigurh
barely even talked. The beginning starts with Bell narrating about the boy he
sent to the electric chair. The boy murdered a girl and authorities started to
say it was a crime of passion. The boy tells the sheriff that it was not a
crime of passion but only the desire to kill someone. He had no purpose to kill
her besides the fact that he just wanted to do it and if he had another chance;
he’d do it again. This boy acknowledges that he is going to hell and doesn’t
care as he quotes he’d “be there in about fifteen minutes.” Chigurh and this
boy shared similar characteristics. They both show no mercy for victims and no
explanation of violence. His eerie character brings violence to reality. In
many ways Chigurh represents a grim reaper. He comes to get you when your time
is over. The movies touches bases with the reality of brutality in violence.
(Cooper 54) Our fate has brought us to our death and when our time is over, we
will be sent on our way.
The
movie shows that his character was a psychotic road killer on the loose. It
doesn’t end with the villain dead or caught by high authority. It ends with all
the victims dead except the perpetrator. Most movies nowadays do like to give
viewers the satisfactory ending. They show the typical hero and villain story
where the hero gets away and saves the day while the villain dies or gets put
in the doghouse. Viewers aren’t often shown the actuality of some cases. There
are cases out there that exist where the good guy doesn’t get away but instead
the bad ones do. Not everyone can have their cake and eat it too. Chigurh shows
many of our evils in the society. Society has grown used to being nice bloody
battles that end up having a hero ending. Today’s well-known superheroes such
as Batman, Superman, and Spiderman are well known for defeating their nemesis
in heroic ways. That’s why they are showcased all over the world because they
represent the good in the world. This movie definitely does not end the way
you’d expect and more than likely no kid would walk out a theatre saying
Chigurh was their next acclaimed favorite hero. (Nichols 211)
The
movie was a harsh representation of reality that many people overlook. There
might not be serial killers walking the street for as long as Chigurh is in America
but there is such violence occurring. People are constantly acknowledge the
good and ignoring the bad. Big Networks and money catching stories pollute most
of the news we see on TV today. We are constantly obsessing over the next big
thing and losing the raw news. “No
Country for Old Men” made a good representation and touched subjects with
greater evils in life. Many people often fantasize life ignoring the realism.
Our life isn’t guaranteed everyday and that’s just something many people take
for granted. We never know what is going to happen when we wake up everyday.
Like Bell says in the movie, “Whatcha got ain't
nothin new. This country's hard on people, you can't stop what's coming.”
Work Cited
Collado-Rodríguez, Francisco. "Trauma And Storytelling In
Cormac Mccarthy's No Country For Old Men And The Road." Papers On Language
& Literature 48.(2012): 45-69. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.
Cooper, Lydia R. "He's A Psychopathic Killer, But So
What?": Folklore And Morality In Cormac Mccarthy's "No Country For
Old Men." Papers On Language & Literature 45.1 (2009): 37-59. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.
Nichols, Mary P. "Revisiting Heroism And Community In Contemporary
Westerns: No Country For Old Men And 3:10 To Yuma." Perspectives On
Political Science 37.4 (2008): 207-216. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Nov.
2012.
Sandell,
Clayton, Kevin Dolak, and Colleen Curry. "Colorado Movie Theater Shooting:
Suspect Bought 4 Guns, 6,000 Rounds of Ammunition in Past 60 Days ." n.
page. Web. 9 Dec. 2012.
<http://abcnews.go.com/US/colorado-movie-theater-shooting-suspect-bought-guns-6000/story?id=16817842>
No Country for Old Men. Dir. Joel Coen. Prod.
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. Perf. Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem. Miramax,
2007. DVD.
Curl,
Brandi. "Choice and Consequence in Country for Old Men." Brandi's
Blog. N.p., 12 2012. Web. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. < http://bcurl.blogspot.com/2012/12/choice-and-consequence-in-no-country.html>
Reynolds,
David H. "The Struggle for Control in the Coen Brothers’ No Country for
Old Men." D-Blog. N.p., 12 2012. Web. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. <http://hilton-j.blogspot.com/2012/11/david-h.html>
Clark,
Jeremy. "Destiny or Coincidence ." JWC's Blog. N.p., 08 2012.
Web. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. <http://jeremywaynec.blogspot.com/2012/11/jeremy-clark-dr.html>
