[Film Review] No Country For Old Men

‘No Country for Old Men’ is an American film neo-noir, adapted from a Cormac McCarthy novel of the same title, with perhaps too much awareness of the novel’s subtext. Writer/Directors Joel and Ethan Coen, who are undeniably brilliant, and always relevant, filmmakers, seem to not be able to let go of an ‘identity ego’ – a linear film would be too ‘easy’ in their, and their devoted following’s, judgments. Or maybe it’s just that the ‘between the lines’ aspect of ‘No Country for Old Men’ is not presented clearly, or cohesively, enough.

On the surface, the film plays like a fairly rudimentary thriller genre-piece. Protagonist Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon a large sum of money, as well as a litter of bodies, which even the most elementary of sleuth’s would be able to decipher as the remnants of a drug smuggle gone very wrong. Llewelyn, who lives in a trailer park in Texas, decides to play ‘finders keepers’, and jets off with the loot. A crisis of conscience leads him back to the bloodied, corpse-ridden scene, where he encounters the rogue posse sent to investigate the bodged smuggle. A chase ensues, one involving the full gamut of stakeholders: the assigned, ruthless assassin Anton Chigurh (played with truly chilling conviction by the lauded Spanish actor Javier Badem); a representative of the American drug syndicate responsible for the drug transportation, Carson Wells (the increasingly annoying Woody ‘Goofy’ Harrelson); local sheriff Ed Tom Bell (the faultless, yet rather mundane Tommy Lee Jones); and of course our ‘in over his head’ protagonist Llewelyn (played adequately by Josh Brolin).

In all of American writer Cormac McCarthy’s novels there is the subtext of the ever-changing nature of America’s West. The original inspiration for ‘No Country for Old Men’ stemmed from the W.B. Yeats poem, ‘Sailing to Byzantium’. Indeed, the title was plucked from the poem’s opening stanza:

That is No Country For Old Men, The young
In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
- Those dying generations – at their song

In the Coen Brothers’ adaptation, Tommy Lee Jones’ sheriff represents that ‘old man’, a man who no longer feels a sense of belonging to, or empathy with, an American society which is falling further and further from grace. This is a powerful and necessary theme for post-9/11 American films to explore, and one which has been explored effectively in such films as ‘Lions for Lambs’, and the upcoming ‘Grace is Gone’. In my opinion, ‘No Country for Old Men’ fails to achieve similar success in this regard. I believe this is because the Coen Brothers are – fundamentally - stylistically esoteric and meticulously detailed filmmakers, resulting in the poignant subtext being overshadowed by a brilliantly mapped-out thriller.

If you’re after a top-shelf thriller, look no further than these benchmark setting American filmmakers’ latest master-craft. However, if you are after a film which successfully marries thrills with philosophy, and/or politics, perhaps you’re better looking to the French, whose 2005 film, ‘Hidden’, sits amongst the best in contemporary cinema’s history.


No Country For Old Men was released in 2007, and is now available on DVD.