What is the concept of No Country For Old Men movie?

Answer 1

I agree to the ending described here, but when you say Chigurh does not have principles, well we are only looking at the positive aspect of principles. in one line he told to Carson wells, "If the rules(principles) you followed, brought you to this... of what use was the rule?". Chigurh tells everything about him in that line. he has broadened his outlook of principles for himself. he is not under any pressure to kill anyone. he is killing a. because he is in a position to kill that person b. because he knows that is the only thing that differentiates him from the other bounty hunters. hell he even killed the guy who hired him, because of "his principles". Damn, how can a person get into the skin of such a character. hats off to javier bardem.

And another controversial scene where the sherrif enters the crime scene and it shows chigurh hiding inside. well, i think it is possible that the cut of Chigurh hiding behind the door is simply a visualization of Sheriff Bell's thoughts, because when the door opens, it opens all the way to wall and Chigurh is nowhere to be found. why would he wait in there. i think there was no way he'd know the sheriff would come back there and even if he did why would he want to kill the sheriff so badly that he would risk arrest. i believe that he got the money and left to kill moss's wife.

-mick

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I think everyone finds there own meaning in art, be it a movie a book or a song, none are invalid and to judge them is ridiculous. Notice how the soldier below finds a meaning in the movie which makes him feel good or at least better about his place in the world, a coincidence ... NO, the movie became for him what he needed it to be at the time, it is totally off in my mind but, it is not "wrong", it is not invalid. Anyway I think the movie is centred on concepts of gambling, the illusion of control in an uncontrollable world, there is an uncontrollable element in the world that can and should never be dismissed, this chaotic element can at times bring about some horrible and also some very beautiful things. I think that in a way Sugar (yes I know that is the wrong spelling) is the face of this uncertainty for many of the other characters, he is the "loose cannon" but he is so much more. Throughout the movie is this theme of people taking a stab, putting their chips in, making a move, examples are plentiful but the most obvious is when Llewellyn decides to go back to the desert. It is interesting that in this case he actually makes this move and faces this risk for unselfish purposes, a choice that will ultimately lead to his death. He had already taken a risk by entering the scene in the first place, investigating the bodies and taking the cash; he 'won' in this first instance, he got lucky, and could have walked away happy for the time being with the cash. Now I think about it, I say make a move, but this is deceiving, to say "make a move" or "take a risk" implies voluntary action, which is not the case, the point of the movie is that risk is unavoidable, we try to shape this world into this comfortable little place for ourselves, safe and secure, but the truth is that this will never occur, the only thing that will bring real comfort is death. This point is illustrated in the final scene when sheriff whatever his name is talks about his father building a fire out there in the dark night, the dark night being life and the fire being the comfort of death. The first dream, the losing money, being symbolic of his losses in life, he feels like a failure, and in a lot of ways he is, he is a defeated man from the beginning, morals and laws have failed him. It is not a happy or uplifting point, it is profound in some ways, however not original at all. It basically centres around this fundamental question in our lives that being, do we control our own lives or do we tread a set path, the fate question, is there a fate, how much of life do we or can we truly control, and what it is to face life as it really is and face the uncontrollable? Sugar is not an evil man, evil is a ridiculous concept in itself, religious rubbish, nothing is truly evil and nothing is truly good. Sugar is a powerful man who wants to control his own fate, but I think has faced the sad fact that this is impossible in many ways; remember, "he got there the same way the coin did", he sees the world as it is, we may see him as dark but I think what he really is a 'realist', and remember he is ultimately the winner in the film, he is cold and calculating but to say he is evil is non-sense, evil itself is non-sense. Notice the way he avoids the blood on his shoes and when he gets the chance he shoots the men without looking at them, he does not like the killing, but he is not confined in his life by morals, he will do what is necessary to come out on top, to win, to gain more power, more control. He does have principles but they are not popular ones they are his own. So if we see this film as a good versus evil thing, which I don't really, then another meaning could be that what we see as good is not always going to be victorious, 'good' (as a popularly defined probably religiously influenced concept) does not triumph in this film. What does triumph is cold and unscrupulous realism, a rejection of popular morals and principles of life, for an objective realist philosophy. Remember Llewellyn might have come out on top if only he had not let his conscious get to him and returned to save the Mexican. The sheriff is a broken man the criminal is powerful and rewarded, Nietzsche comes to mind, realism, anti-moralistic, is Sugar the Superman? I do like this idea that Sugar is 'death' personified, it's a fun idea but I am not sure about it. I could just keep rambling about this forever. Great freaking movie tho eh. The title lends itself to this interpretation, "no country for old men" meaning that the world is not a place of comfort, it is uncontrollable, it is inherently full of risk, not a place for an old man. If one scene and in fact one line sums this film up for me it is this, from sugar in the convenience store to the clerk, they are about to do the coin flip, the clerk says he didn't put anything up, Sugar replies "yes you did, you've been putting it up your whole life, you just didn't know it". We risk everything everyday, nothing is ever certain or secure, and does not become more-so because of laws and morals, these things only offer an illusion of security and of comfort, this is the movie for me.

Yes you are correct, but if someones interpretation is wrong do you really have to call them an idiot? It is there opinion and they are very just in having one, you have one; I have one, but neither of us would appreciate being maliciously called an idiot.

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Ok, all of you are sort of in the area but are not 'on it'. Let me just say that the thought that Sheriff Bell is killed by Chigurgh is both stupid and absurd. Put the idea out of your mind. Bell is an essential character that needs to stay alive to deliver the impact of the meaning.

I know this story because I lived it. After one very f**ked up night in Iraq, I found a few hours, sat down and watched No Country for Old Men. The movie made everything that I was going through make sense and I never questioned any of my actions for the rest of the tour. In fact my actions thereafter were so swift and clean that it was as if the hand of God himself was in control.

Each character in the movie represents a different aspect of the overall message. Everything contributes to the over all truth in life that for evil to succeed all that is required is for good men to do nothing. That is the essence of life and the story.

Chigurgh represents 'evil' in the story. Chigurgh does not represent 'death' or 'fate'. Whom ever in this blog that claimed Chigurgh is "principled" is both wrong and stupid. Chigurghs actions of flipping the coin to see if he will let someone live or die is not principled. In fact it is the opposite. It demonstrates Chigurgh/Evils utter lack of respect for human life. When Chigurgh is driving over the bridge and takes a pot shot at the raven with his hand gun what does that tell you? Its not "principle", its more like "the world is my play ground".

The beginning of the movie is the same as the end. Both Llewellyn Moss and the little boy in the end of the movie represent the same thing, which is an opportunist. Neither was overtly evil in the movie but both were willing to take money that didn't belong to them. Both represent a good person's indifference to evil; both trying not to get involved at the same time trying to come out on top. If you put your hand in the cookie jar you might as well climb on in because the moment you take something that is not yours you are buying into all the other evil that brought it to your feet in the first place.

Sheriff Bell represents defeated good. The Sheriff is both confused and fallen under a misconception that many come to believe in the face of evil. The Sheriff has lost his way and is in moral despair. Throughout the film Sheriff Bell is always searching for answers. In his narration and with the various scenes this is demonstrated. When Bell talks with his fellow Peace Officer and old friend in the diner; both convey their bewilderment regarding the lack of values of the current generation of youth. Neither can understand the current state of society compared to the society of their youth. Sheriff Bell feels that society has reached a new evil never before seen. Later Bell visits his Uncle who counters Sheriff Bells point of view. He does so with the story of how their distant relative was gunned down unarmed and left to die for no reason. Bell's Uncle then accuses Bell of vanity because Bell expected everything to stay the same as it was in his youth. In the last scence with Bell and his wife the essence is revealed when Bell tells his wife of the dream he had the night before. Bell tells his wife that "my father gave me some money but I lost it" The money represents the virtue that his father had, the virtue the Sheriff Bell once possessed but then lost. This point is further driven home when Bell continues "He just rode past me and didn't say anything and I knew that he was going on ahead and that he was fixin to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark." This end passage is the essence of the meaning. Bells father has what it takes to go toe to toe with evil and fight is back down so that others may live with some peace in their lives. Bell lost his faith and virtue and in the end was defeated.

Whomever in the blog said that Bellstole the money or Bells father accused him of stealing the money is both wrong and an idiot.

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Another answer: I believe that the end of the movie was telling us we all make our own choices and all the characters represented a personality, eg. Moss= Greed and Selfishness. The killer= The wrong choices coming back to haunt you. also as repeated a few time, you never know whats gonna happen next, meaning we cant predict our future.

Possible answer: The sheriff was actually killed in the motel room when he returned to the crime scene. The following scenes with him are actually after he's dead. Why would the killer not kill him as he did with everyone else he encountered? Where did the killer go after the sheriff entered the motel room? He stayed in the room, then killed the sheriff when he sat down on the bed.

Better Answer: Anton Chigurh (the killer) slipped away with the money before, or just after, the sheriff entered the motel room. Chigurh knew that Moss would have hidden the money in the air vent, as he had done before. The Sheriff even found Chigurh's dime by the opened vent, the same "tool" he had used before. Then, narrowly escaping death, overmatched at last by the madness and death he had been pursuing, the Sheriff retires, as he says, and Chigurh goes on to kill Moss's wife, for his own reasons.

That said, it is puzzling that the filmmakers don't include a shot of Chigurh slipping out of the room, after showing him apparently waiting inside it, gun at the ready, as the Sheriff approaches the door. My best guess: the Coens (they edited the film themselves, under their usual pseudonym) wanted the tension of the scene to continue all the way to the end -- you watch Tommy Lee Jones sit on the bed, put down his gun, and you still think he might be killed at any moment... which is exactly the way he feels.

IN ADDITION: I agree with the above that Chigurah slips away with the money; he is a man of principles and his word. I thought Chiggy was in the room next to the one Bell entered or again it could be he was behind the door. Consider this.. .Chiggy only kills when someone is in the way of him completing his task and if they are in his way somehow, he leaves it to a coin toss to determine that persons fate; they met here for a reason now it is up to a coin to decide if he was mean to hurt them(creepy isn't it). Bell wasn't in his way, therefore no reason to hurt him. I agree with the tension. you know you are shaking when you see this scene.

Also if you notice, the three characters are never in a single shot together. this is important in considering the diverse ways of each.

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Anton Chigurh is not a psychopath; he is death. The sheriff understood this near the end and when he saw him in the reflection of the blown out lock, he knew he was there but survived because he was not willing to face death. His fear of death leads to guilt for allowing others to die.

Chigurh kills anyone who "sees" him and believes he is not a ghost. When the accountant asks Chigurh "are you going to kill me?" he answers "that depends do you see me?". After the car accident near the end, the 2 boys agree they never saw him.

Moss thought if he ditched the transponder he could not be found. Woody Harrelson's character lets him know this is not the case and that death is inevitable if he continues down the path he is taking. As a hired killer, they "worked" together previously. Moss's continued greed and attempts to save himself also led to his wife's death.

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everyone wants instant gratification; bad guy wins, bad guy looses, but in real life that isn't how it is. society goes on, there isn't some big, explosive ending to life, is therE? Bell retires because he can't keep up with the downfall of society. He remembers a time his father didn't carry around a gun and he is in disbelief when he finds the reason for the air gun.

also, the dream sequence at the end spells everything out. My dad accused me of stealing money = stealing time. A place that is cold, dark and damp = society now. Father lit a fire in an old horn thing = it's ok to retire you will feel warmth and comfort and oh yea you won't get shot up.

beautiful film , i love a good metaphor.

In addition to the above: Don't forget one of the key dialogs in the story, where Chigurh talks about how death simply means your time has come. This was when he was talking with the attendant at the gas station. I think that one of the key recognitions that Tommy Lee Jones had was that in fact his time had not arrived yet. He in ways might have been ready and willing to walk into his death (when he had opened the door to that motel room. But for whatever reason, his inevitable death was not to be (at least for the moment).

This movie speaks a lot about fate and the eventuality of death. The untimely deaths through out, just shows that we in fact have no control on life/death. One could beg, plead, bargain or attempt to deceive, but in the end, if its your time to go, it is in fact your time to go.

****I thought it was a horrible movie.....no twist, no plot, no justification for all the fuss.

Great film. I don't think the ending is THAT deep. I reckon as he said to the guy with the cats; he fealt overmatched. Being an old timer, he couldn't understand the mindless/violence that he either experienced or read about (remember the naked guy dog collar comment?) He is obviously getting to retirement age and finally fealt he was out of touch/sick of it. The final dream he had with his father going on ahead in the snowy pass to light a fire was a sign of his fealing of vulnerability and need of comfort.

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Whoa Horse! Your answer is very thorough and in depth. You definitely read many layers into the plot. I would only add that in my humble belief, you "Can not see the forest through the trees", i.e., you are missing a very simple meaning to the end of the movie. When Sheriff Bell discusses his dream with his wife, he is laying out the impending events and doom to the viewer. His father riding ahead to build a fire and wait for his son, is clearly a foreshadowing of his death. The father died much earlier than his son, and "rode ahead to build a fire and wait for his son in order to guide him in" The father is waiting for his son in the afterlife, and the dream either signals that he is to die very soon, or at least make the viewer think that is to come. Chigurch did not kill Bell in the motel room, because that is not how he operates. He tracks down his prey and kills on his terms and place of choosing. I believe Chigurch kills Bell soon after the telling of his dream. Just me, but I think it is fairly simple. One disclaimer, I did have a couple of G and Ts while watching the movie. Super movie, with an excellent cast.

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I think the Iraqi guy just needs to "chill" im 20 and have been through death before but don't need an explanation for it. hit me up on facebook....Lindsey cundra

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The title is a line from the William Butler Yeats poem, Sailing to Byzantium.

That is no country for old men. The young

In one another's arms, birds in the trees

- Those dying generations - at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caught in that sensual music all neglect

Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress,

Nor is there singing school but studying

Monuments of its own magnificence;

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come

To the holy city of Byzantium.

O sages standing in God's holy fire

As in the gold mosaic of a wall,

Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,

And be the singing-masters of my soul.

Consume my heart away; sick with desire

And fastened to a dying animal

It knows not what it is; and gather me

Into the artifice of eternity.

Once out of nature I shall never take

My bodily form from any natural thing,

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling

To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;

Or set upon a golden bough to sing

To lords and ladies of Byzantium

Of what is past, or passing, or to come.

"Sailing to Byzantium" is a poem by William Butler Yeats, first published in the 1928 collection The Tower. It depicts a portion of an old man's journey to Constantinople. Through this journey, Yeats explores his thoughts and musings on how immortality, art, and the human spirit may converge. Through the use of various poetic techniques, Yeats' "Sailing to Byzantium" describes the metaphorical journey of a man pursuing his own vision of eternal life as well as his conception of paradise.

Answer 2

The concept of the film No Country for Old Men, directed by the Coen Brothers, is about a man who finds a briefcase of money in the dessert after a drug deal gone wrong. He is subsequently pursued by people trying to get the money back.

Answer 3

To learn the meaning of the end of the movie, we must first analyze the very beginning of it. The start of the film is introduced with a monologue by Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and in this monologue he expresses himself in regards to how he feels towards the people of the past--family and law enforcement--as well as the subtle hint that he is hesitant and uncomfortable being in a world that he does not understand.

From there, we can assume that the first dream (of him losing something valuable (money for example) that his father had given him) was about his acceptance into the world--a world that was far different from what he had hoped (and this can also be linked to the title; "No Country For Old Men") and this is hinted by him admitting that he lost said valuable.

The second dream is a little more subjective and it is entirely dependent on ones outlook on life ... but this is what I got from it. Riding along a mountain path with his father on a dark, sorrowful night--his father riding on ahead holding a horn with an ember inside it (to set up a campfire for the coming night). Therein, Sheriff Ed (Tommy Lee Jones) would obviously catch up to his father at one point or another--both travelling on the same mountain path (with no other way to go but forward). I believe that his father and the horn is symbolism of the inevitable fact of death--nothing in life is certain, and many things may change. The one thing that is certain, though, is death. Probably repeating myself; anything can happen whilst Ed is travelling the mountain pass, however he is guaranteed to reach his father eventually.

Extending a little--although off track--Ed is seen to be reluctant living in a country of which he has no control over. In contrast, though, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), is presented as having complete control over everything in his life (and this is hinted not-so-subtly when he is first introduced and he appears in the police station with the deputy. Moments after the deputy saying on the telephone that he 'has the situation under control', Chigurh makes his move and ... well ... we all know how that happened ... if not, go watch it!

All in all -- a great movie and one of my all-time favourites.

Answer 4

The title is a fairly tragic assertation made by Sherrif Ed Tom Bell in the beginning of the novel (though not said outright) when he is going on about his past and his future, the pain that he feels in life, as well as the fact that he isn't all that comfortable in a world that he has grown to not understand. So, it is in the end simply a statement about failed dreams and hopes in a way, and the overall tone and ending to the novel and film only cement that feeling of total apathy.

Answer 5

The first line in Sailing to Byzanthium a poem by William Butler Yeats is; "That is no country for old men." Cormac McCarthy takes the title for his book from the first line.

Answer 6

sometimes you have to leave it the way it wants..sheriff did that way