A New Age Of Western Movies is Here

by Praveen Madhukar Naik
(India)

Modern Western Thriller

Move over Norman Bates, you've got company. Anton Chigurh is here. And he ain't got no knives nor puny pistols. His weapon of choice is a cattlegun. He's a cowboy but he don't don them hats. He sports a girlish bob cut instead. But you better not snigger, friendo, or you'll be dead before you know what hit you.

But mind you, a wickedly perfect Javier Bardem as Chigurh is not the only factor that makes No Country for Old Men a classic. A graciously restrained Tommy Lee Jones leaves impact as Ed Tom Bell, a Sheriff who is disillusioned by witnessing years of mindless violence and begins to believe that USA is no country for old men. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin who co-starred Jones in this year's In the Valley of Elah) is someone who pushes his luck to the limits for that one desperate shot at riches. Carla Jean - Moss's wife who loves her husband enough not to expect answers for the questions she asks him. The Scottish Kelly Macdonald dons a Southern accent to portray this heartbreaking character. And to round up the wonderful cast, Woody Harrelson plays Carson Wells , a dark operative, who describes Chigurh as 'a person with no sense of humor'. Now, did I mention the clever lines in this flick?

The film begins on a ghastly note. The death toll has already begun to roll when Moss discovers a satchel full of two million dollars in cash. What he doesn't know, as he scampers with the money, is that a hellhound called Chigurh is on his trail. The collateral damage that ensues in this cat and mouse game is as devastating as bubonic plague. What adds more horror to the proceedings is the subtle comic edge that accompanies almost every gruesome scene.

No Country for Old Men, which is an adaptation of a book of the same name, is as good a thriller as they come, but what places this film above the ordinary is the climax, or the 'anticlimax' as many would put it.

Spoilers ahead*******************
My interpretation is that the character of Chigurh and in fact, the movie itself are allegories of the flippant callousness of life. The story is not about the money or about the characters of Moss, Chigurh and Bell for that matter. The story is about the horrendous happenings that we read about in crime sections of newspapers, which make us wonder what must have triggered such inhumanities and what purpose is achieved in barbarianism. As for the money, in Chigurh's own words to Carla, "I wouldn't worry about it."
Spoilers end**********************

No Country for Old Men with its cattleguns and satchels and transponders and coin-tosses gets under your skin and creeps you out. And it drives a message home. There are no answers to some questions.