MAIN TITLE Arts and Entertainment
Article Title No Country for old men
Miramax Films presents a film written and directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. It
is a critically acclaimed 2007 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Cormac
McCarthy. The film features Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem.
If you
like the kind of film that surprises you and takes away your breath at the same time,this
is it. It tells the story of a drug deal gone very wrong and the ensuing cat-and-mouse
drama as three men crisscross each others paths in the desert landscape of 1980 West
Texas. Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon some dead bodies, a
stash of heroin and more than $2 million in cash near the Rio Grande.
The local sheriff,
Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), tells of the changing times as the region becomes
increasingly violent. The key character of Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) and his
weapon of choice — cattle gun — are introduced as he escapes police custody and steals
a car by using the cattle gun to kill the car's driver. But at the same time a hunter
hunting pronghorn come across a collection of corpses and one Mexican near death
which was the result of a drug deal gone bad. The hunter Llewwlyn Moss [Josh Brolin]
also finds two million dollars in a suitcase and decides that he will keep the money
and leave the Mexican to die, but has a change of heart and returns with some water
for the man.
But this good deed sets off a cat and mouse game in which the hunter
and the hunted switch roles as a gang of Mexicans,Chigurh,Moss and Bell chase each
other and the two million dollars across the Texas and Mexican landscape. But unbeknown
to Moss, Chigurh who was hired to retrieve the money has a transponder hidden in
it. And Chigurh, who is a professional hit man, will kill anyone who gets in his
way.
In the meantime Moss, not knowing anything about the transponder, sends his
wife Carla Jean [Kelly MacDonald] out of town and jumps from motel to motel trying
to elude not only Chigurh but also the Mexicans. While all of this is happening,
Bell main concern is to try and protect Moss after he finds him. Chigurh is closing
in on Moss because of the tracking device.
Chigurh ends up killing some of the Mexicans
and a rival hit-man named Carson Wells who is played by Woody Harrelson. Moss arranges
a meeting with Carla Jean in El Pasco to give her the money and tries to get her
out of danger. All of the action now takes place at the motel when all of the main
characters converge there, but not at the same time. Moss is killed by the Mexicans
in a bloody shootout. Sheriff Bell shows up and enters a room to discover that the
vent covers have been removed and knows that the money had been removed and then
leaves, not knowing that Chigurh is hiding in that same motel.
Bell finally gets
the opportunity to visit his uncle Ellis [Barry Corbin] and informs him that he is
going to retire because he is getting leery of the changing times, but Ellis accuses
him of just being vain. Some time later Chiguth confronts the widowed Carla Jean
and offers her the same "coin flip"opportunity that he had offered the gas station
owner, Carla Jean refuses and in the next scene it shows Chigurh examining the soles
of his boots, as if to indicate that he had committed another murder. He ends up
in a car accident but he manages to elude the police and escapes again.
At the very
end of this story Bell is reflecting on the many choices he had in his life. He tells
his wife[Tess Harper] about the two dreams that he has had while heis experiencing
an uneasy retirement at home.
Highly praised by critics, the film received several
Golden Globe Award nominations. Roger Ebert called it "as good a film as the Coen
brothers... have ever made and gave it a four star review and it appeared on many
of critics top 10 list of 2007.It took Best Picture at 2008 Critics’ Choice Awards.
About the Author
Andrew Conway is an avid author,writer and a classic movie buff. If you love watching
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