100 Movies Every Catholic Should See #38: No Country for Old Men (2007)

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson.

The specter of nihilism haunts the backroads of America, creeping into the hearts and minds of its unsuspecting victims and colliding with a traditional morality, gradually disappearing with each passing day, allowing amorality to seep into the psyche of modern man. What does this ghost look like? He comes in many forms. Some say he is the spirit of a wounded country reeling in the aftermath of Vietnam, disillusioned by the violence witnessed overseas. Others say it is the spirit of an emerging technology, allowing man access to new, brutal methods of murder. In No Country for Old Men, Joel and Ethan Coen’s gripping, widely celebrated neo-western, this spirit takes the form of a black-clad bounty hunter with a strange bob haircut. Coming and going in the dead of night, quicker than death itself, this is a new, frightening form of evil that the men of the old Christian country feel fully unequipped to face. He serves no God, but only himself, bows to no one except chance, and claims to be a servant of destiny, who must kill because fate has brought him face-to-face with his prey. He places the lives of his victims in the hands of randomness, claiming the forces of chance have led each victim to their moment of doom. 

Taking the basic structure of a traditional western and masterfully subverting the storytelling tropes, the Coen Brothers find the traditional gun-slinging hero of the old west in the form of an elderly Texas sheriff Ed Tom Bell (played endearingly by Tommy Lee Jones), who holds onto traditional Christian notions of good and evil and who, over the course of the story, grows ever more aware of the darkness in the human heart. Reading gruesome news stories and tasked with investigating horrific crimes he does not understand, he is a man shaken to the core at sights he never thought he’d witness. Rather than a young, strong Western hero rolling in to save the day, Bell is a man who feels his time is passing, and wonders if God no longer wants to participate in his life or the lives of those around him. He feels the apocalyptic dread brought on by the amorality of a nation slowly letting go of Christian principles, the cartel violence on the border making itself more visible by the day, and the common man disillusioned in the aftermath of the Vietnam war. How can a member of the principled old guard face such unprecedented violence and moral indifference? 

Representing the common man is Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a Vietnam veteran struggling to make ends meet, who stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and a satchel full of millions. Choosing to take the money so that he can start a new life with his wife Carla Jean (Kelly MacDonald), he runs off to avoid the cartel following him, with the intention of meeting his wife once he can ensure their safety. But he soon finds himself pursued by a ruthless bounty hunter, Anton Chigurgh, hired to retrieve the money by the original investors in the drug deal. Much of the story focuses on Llewelyn’s attempts to evade being tracked and killed by Chigurh (brilliantly, frighteningly played by Javier Bardem), a man devoid of any conscience or compassion. The standoff between Llewelyn and Chigurh further alludes to the traditional Western, but as the Coens continue to subvert the tropes, they quickly remind the audience that this is no longer a West where the lawmen hold power, and while Llewelyn acts as the protagonist for much of the movie, he seems fated to confront the man in black. Though his intentions to provide for his wife were pure, his decision to act outside the law means he is even less equipped to face the ghostly Chigurh. The Coen Brothers are quick to show how Llewelyn is also a product of this new amoral world, even if he still holds some semblance of the old Christian ways. The first thing they do is draw a comparison between Llewelyn and the bounty hunter, each hunting prey. Llewelyn is hunting deer using a gun, while Chigurh is hunting people using a captive bolt stunner, suggesting he sees people as nothing but cattle. Llewelyn of course still respects the humanity of others and only hunts for food and sport, but by immediately placing the two figures in the same world of hunter and hunted, the Coens cement their theme of mankind slowly losing its soul, and forgetting the truths that once guided moral men to choose the law over lawlessness. 

It cannot be overstated how much the Coen Brothers are masters of their craft, and their meticulous use of sound and image creates a steady, foreboding tone of apocalyptic unease. Every scene features visual motifs that bring the mind back to their themes of nihilism, chance, and morality versus amorality. In one of the most famous scenes, Anton Chigurgh stops at a gas station where the old cashier tries to make friendly conversation, and it becomes instantly apparent the cashier is talking to a man who has no belief in human worth. The scene acts as a microcosm of the entire film, where the men of the old country come face-to-face with the specter of nihilism. “How much have you ever lost in a coin toss?” is the question Chigurh asks the cashier, and other potential victims, insisting they bet their life on the random flip of a coin. His belief in randomness is eventually challenged when another potential victim refuses to participate in the bet, reminding Chigurh “the coin don’t have no say. It’s just you.” This acknowledgment of Chigurh’s free will is not enough to stop his evil acts, but this simple defiance of nihilism shows the old Christian country still holds a place in people’s minds and hearts, still holds influence in the way people can respond to evil, even when they cannot stop evil from happening. 

Underlying the apocalyptic tone, the Coens provide other quiet moments of simple wisdom to counter the despair Sheriff Bell feels in the face of violence. He’s reminded by his elderly uncle that, when his uncle was young, evil showed up in different forms, but was still present, calling to mind Ecclesiastes’ wisdom: “nothing is new under the sun” (Eccles. 1:9). Along with this biblical wisdom, Sheriff Bell is granted a dream where he and his father ride out into the cold darkness and his father goes before him, carrying a torch to show the way for his son. Amidst the nihilism of a world gone mad, Bell remembers his father (possibly alluding to his Heavenly Father) who has given his son the light of truth to carry into the darkness. Though Bell is now an old man who bears the weight of the surrounding barbarism, the task given him by his father is still on his heart. What will happen if the old generation gives up the fight against the encroaching darkness? Bell fears what the task requires, saying, “a man would have to put his soul at hazard. He would have to say, ‘Okay. I’ll be part of this world.’” 

Joel and Ethan Coen are literary-minded directors with consistently superior storytelling, and No Country for Old Men stands as one of their best films in a list of masterpieces. Fascinated by morality plays and the haunted landscape of America, they excel at both comedy and tragedy, sometimes in the same film, and even in their bleakest stories, they seek epiphanies about man’s relationship with sin, violence, and the occasional divine intervention. Despite featuring one of the most unnerving villains in the history of cinema, the movie never depicts evil in an attractive light, and though ambiguity always features in the Coen’s storytelling, their allusions to cosmic justice and the possibility of evil vanquished reveal the directors as morally astute filmmakers. No Country for Old Men speaks to a yearning in people’s hearts for evil to be acknowledged, and for good men to shine a light in the darkness, no matter how old they get.

*Content Warning: No Country For Old Men contains some shocking violence. Although it supports the themes expressed in the review and is not gratuitous or overly excessive, it may still disturb some viewers.*