No Place For Catharsis -- A Review Of The Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men. (Updated)

(Author's Note: This entry discusses the film No Country For Old Men. My first (abortive) attempt at a review may be found here. My review of Cormac McCarthy's novel from a year or so ago is here. -- RDS)

This past Friday, I was cooling my heels in Sacramento missing the Official Family. Due to the vagaries of flight schedules, I had an afternoon and evening of free time, so I decided to hit a Barnes and Noble for some reading material and would up acquiring the No Country For Old Men DVD. (What? You thought I'd misbehave just because I was away from home? Ha! Welcome to my world.)

I must confess, I approached watching the movie with some trepidation. The "Went To College" part of my brain realizes that I should judge movies on their own merit and not as extensions of the novel upon which they are based. Film makers are allowed certain license in transferring a written work onto the big screen. Nonetheless, I was worried that the Coen brothers' effort in this case would not be up to snuff in my mind, simply because I really, really liked Cormac McCarthy's novel. I worried that McCarthy's vision would not and could not adequately be portrayed on the big screen.

My fears were borne out, I'm afraid, though not because of any lack of trying on the part of the film makers or actors. Rather, I think that the nature of the novel -- its structure, its subtlety, its message -- prevent a film maker who wishes to be true to McCarthy's vision from bringing the full power of that truth to the screen.

The movie tells the story of a soon-to-be retired Terrell County, Texas Sheriff, Ed Tom Bell, played by Tommy Lee Jones. Bell is thrust into the middle of crime/shootout involving Mexican drug smugglers, a local mechanic Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin), and a hired psychopathic assassin Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Moss has stumbled upon a massacre of drug runners and decided to take a brief case filled with money. Chigurh is sent to find the money, and in the process, leaves a trail of bodies wherever he goes. The sheriff Bell is faced with trying to come to grips with an evil afoot in his county which he has never seen before and which he cannot understand.

Let me say, the acting in this movie is outstanding. Jones is the perfect sheriff. In fact, I cannot imagine anyone else playing this role. Brolin and Bardem do the Moss and Chigurh characters justice as does the balance of the supporting cast. In addition, the cinematography is worth a viewing of the movie for the sweeping views of Texas' Big Bend country. (The film was made on location in Marfa, Texas, a place which I hold dear in my heart by virtue of a without-probable-cause encounter with a Border Patrol Agent in 1993 which terminated favorably upon my display of my Missouri Bar Membership card.)

In the novel, the story is set in "the present," i.e. the crime spree and search for Moss, the money and Chigurh is periodically interrupted by soliloquies of Bell. In these, he discusses the changes he has witnessed over his years in law enforcement and it is clear that he cannot fathom how society is changing around him and he bemoans his inability to confront the evils he sees in world. Bell is tired, yet he continues from day-to-day, perhaps hoping that he can somehow slow or turn back these evils. Yet, as the novel progresses, we see that not only is he incapable of stopping the evil, he no longer has the will to even confront it. In that sense, he no longer belongs in the world; it has become "No Country For Old Men."

Of course, such a vision doesn't translate well for the modern, movie going public. For all our desires to create our own morality, to be free of the horrid chains of those social constructs which limit our behavior and indeed, our freedom, we wish to see Good triumph over Evil. In our movies, we see Evil portrayed and we need to see and know that it does not prevail. Thus, do we always see and revel in the final glorious gunfight or sword duel wherein the guy with the white hat, bloodied perhaps but unbowed, vanquishes the bad guy.

That's not Cormac McCarthy's world and thankfully, the Coen brothers were true to his vision. There is no catharsis in No Country For Old Men. Instead, we see fear on Bell's face the one time he is close to Chigurh. We see Chigurh walking away from his final murder without retribution. We see Bell, now retired, recounting a dream to his wife (Tess Harper) at the breakfast table, where he sees his father riding ahead of him into the darkness to light a fire and wait. Because the country is no longer for Bell -- a man old before his time because of the changes he's witnessed -- there's nothing left but to follow his predecessors and perhaps pray that there is some young man who is ready and capable to confront the new evil which is daily apparent.

Had I not read McCarthy's novel, I would have thought the movie a failure. Indeed, I've read many reactions to it which indicate that the message was lost on those not familiar with the book. And that indicates to me that while the Coen brothers came close, they nonetheless missed the mark. I'm not sure how they could have translated the novel better. Perhaps more voice-overs from Bell's soliloquies would have helped. The bottom line is that I "got it" and appreciated the the film makers' effort here. But I wonder whether McCarthy's vision demands something more -- something accessible to those who haven't read his work. Because if his message is obscured, then the rest of us cannot act upon it.

Cheers.

R. Sherman

Update: John B. has posted his review here together with a discussion of Chigurh and other Coen brothers' characters as "Outlawyer." Go, read and comment. -- RDS