FadedBlue_net

    I re-watched No Country For Old Men, making tonight my second viewing of the film.  I have to say, it is a lot better when you “get it.”  There certainly is a significant message behind this film and one’s appreciation of it can be greatly increased by a deeper reading.  Here are some of my notes.  Of course, this is just my personal reading of the film, and only parts that I can remember on the fly.

*** SPOILERS ***

First of all, the story is excellent, superficially.  The suspense aspect of the film should not be ignored as a means of entertainment.
There are several characters who are supernatural (non-human):
- Anton Chigurh is the ‘angel of death,’ or the reaper.  Anyone who sees him, well.. it is their time to die.  (Accountant: “Are you going to shoot me?” Anton:”That depends… do you see me?”)  There is once chance to live though… call the coin correctly.  I think this may just be the random chance of life/death.   Anton is obviously sent from hell… notice his smile when he is told to “go to hell.”  Notice, too, at the end where he tells the kids that they “never saw him.”
- The sheriffs are ‘angels’ (of life) or guardian angels.  They watch over their cities.  Notice the hats are rounded to symbolize their ‘hallows.’  They are seen with lit backgrounds around their heads (as did Anton).  Some angels are still in training, and others are retired.  How old one is depends on how much evil they have seen.  Thus, why Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is older than his dad in his dream.
- Everybody else are normal people.  Though some people are various deals in place with the angel of death… but obviously they all die.  The only person who lives from Anton is the gas station owner.  Carla Jean, and the accountant died.
- The cause of all their deaths are from greed.  Money is not just the literal cause (from the story), but also metaphorically the death from the introduction of wealth in society.  You can get this from the talks by Sheriff Bell.
- No one knows when death will come, and they are never ready for it.  Listen to the final conversation between Carla Jean and Anton.  It is always coming for you, and there is no escape.  Llewellyn made a ‘deal with the devil’ by not supplying the Mexican int he truck with water, which is a life source.  Instead he will take the money.  We see his conscious play out when he wakes up in the night to take the water to him.  But the deal has already been made.  Also notice how the Sheriff describes the way that when steer are slaughtered via the air gun, they are “dead before they knew what hit them.”  Thus, Anton’s use of the air gun is fitting.
- The entire story is not about Llewelyn and his greed of money.  This is a subplot.  The story is actually about Sheriff Bell, who becomes an angel long ago, as he describes at the beginning of the story, but now is going to see his final episode of greed and humanity that makes him quit as an ‘angel’ and move on to death/the afterlife.  It goes without saying that the dream Sheriff Bell recites at the end of the film is actually his proceeding to the afterlife and quitting of being a “sheriff.”  Thus it is fitting that the film ends here.

In light of all this… I my rating for this film is:

Rating – 5 /5