No Country for Old Men is one of the landmark movies of the past 20 years, setting new standards for the Western genre and walking away with four Oscars, including Best Picture. However, No Country for Old Men‘s ending is somewhat surprising, when the two biggest character deaths in the movie both happen off-screen. Yet when it is widely agreed upon that the Coen brothers created a masterpiece for the modern age with this drama, there is certainly a reason for this creative decision.
No Country for Old Men examines themes of morality and pure evil in an evolving world when Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), characterized as a man of a bygone era, attempts to track down Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) before he is killed by Anton Chigurh, the latter one of the most iconic movie villains of all time and the career-defining performance of Javier Bardem. Chigurh’s quest to recover the cash of drug money Moss stumbled upon goes beyond the material concern, and the way the movie depicts his kills further emphasizes its effect.
Both Llewelyn & Carla Jean Moss Are Killed Off-Screen In No Country For Old Men
The Deaths Of These Major Characters In No Country For All Men Seems Underwhelming In Theory
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No Country for Old Men‘s opening sequence, a contender for one of the best movie openings ever, establishes the violence and banality of Bardem’s character. When he spends the rest of the movie pursuing Moss with a vicious, deadly calm, it seemingly sets up their eventual confrontation to be a dramatically bloody one. However, Moss is killed off-screen by a different group of criminals, and the aftermath is discovered by Bell — a shocking fate for one of No Country for Old Men‘s main characters.
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Chigurh recovers the drug money and later tracks down Moss’ wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald), having promised to kill her if her husband didn’t comply with his demands before his death. No Country for Old Men heavily implies that Chigurh kills Carla Jean, as he is only seen leaving her house after speaking with her. In this pivotal scene, Carla Jean makes her own contribution to the movie’s themes by forcing culpability back onto Chigurh, refusing to play his coin toss game when he is the one who decides whether to kill her.
No Country For Old Men’s Off-Screen Deaths Are Understated Horror & Reinforce The Banality Of Evil
No Country For Old Men Carefully Builds Its Drama Through Which Characters Deaths Are Shown
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In a movie primarily about Chigurh’s violence and Moss’ selfishness, the off-screen deaths reduce them both. There is a quiet kind of chilling horror imagining the murders that take place outside the purview of the audience, especially when the movie starts with the brutal murder of a side character, a masterful narrative sequence in terms of tone. Additionally, the banality of evil is never clearer than by concentrating on what Chigurh does after Carla Jean, focusing on escaping even after a car wreck.
Chigurh commits crimes like this regularly — the fact of the murder itself might be important to the audience, but not necessarily to him. Where Moss is concerned, he held on to the money at all costs, until it led to his death. There is more horror in seeing Bell react to the scene, as he is the one trying to find some semblance of meaning and morality in this world. Carefully hiding something from an audience is a long-established narrative trick, one that No Country for Old Men uses beautifully to reinforce the idea of a world where evil is becoming the norm.
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7.9/10
No Country for Old Men
R
ThrillerDramaCrime
No Country for Old Men is a western crime-thriller based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy and directed by the Cohen Brothers. Following three protagonists, the film centers around a large $2,000,000+ cache of dirty money lost near the Rio Grande. With a veteran who finds it, a hitman who will stop at nothing to get it, and a sheriff trying to investigate the crimes connected to it, all roads lead to death and mayhem as they find themselves in each other’s crosshairs.
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*Availability in US
Release Date
November 21, 2007
Runtime
122 minutes
Cast
Kelly Macdonald
, Woody Harrelson
, Josh Brolin
, Javier Bardem
, Tommy Lee Jones
Director
Joel Coen
, Ethan Coen
Writers
Ethan Coen
, Joel Coen
Studio(s)
MiraMax
Distributor(s)
Universal Pictures
, MiraMax
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