Why "No Country For Old Men" is a Cinematic Masterpiece
First things first, I should explain exactly what No Country for Old Men is. It's a movie. Duh. This movie is based off of the novel of the same name, written by American novelist Cormac McCarthy. I should preface that I have not read the novel and intend to do so in the coming future. This short essay focuses specifically on the character of Anton Chigurh.
As a character actor, I always appreciate a well put together psychopath. Especially when they are played by an actor who, as a person, despises violence. This is one of the many things that makes the character of Anton Chigurh so intense, and so utterly impeccable. Played by Javier Bardem almost turned down the, noting that he really did not like violence at all, that it really bothered him. This is striking, violence is what many would mark as the defining trait of Chigurh. He is characterized as an emotionless, unfeeling killer who kills at random, with a weapon designed to slaughter cattle. When using a gun, it is always accompanied by a silencer. Not once does he use a loud weapon, he is silent, speaking only when needed. Everything about Anton makes him startlingly in-human. And that's the problem. He's believable. He, as a character, seems like something you would find out in the world.
He is the perfect literary device. And he is the perfect antagonist. In a movie that functions fundamentally on the point of morals, Anton has no definable morals. The only thing that we can even begin to classify as a moral, is his dependence on the coin toss, and his ultimatums. Twice he presents the coin toss, once to the gas station clerk, and once to Llewellyn's wife. To the gas station clerk, he asks,
"Whats the most you ever lost in a coin Toss?"
This line alone opens a canyon into the character of Chigurh. Something inside him, some small part of his being must be feeling something. And it makes him find a reason for his killing. A coin. If his victim properly calls the coin, and wins, then they live, and if they lose.. they die. This gives a reason, silences the voice inside his soul that questions his killing. The ultimatum that he offers to Llewellyn, however, does strike us as something human. Almost as if he sees no need to kill Llewellyn and his wife. He wants one thing, the money. This shows to us that he sees killing as something necessary. He now has a set of rules, but not morals. He marks money as necessary, but killing someone for it that has a wife.. why does he not find that necessary. Of course, in the end, Carla Jean and Llewellyn both die. Anton hobbles off into the sunset, his coin method failing him when Carla Jean chooses to deny the coin toss. She says,
"The coin don't have no say. It's just you".
This comes after Anton decides to give her the coin. His dialogue shows that he, maybe, just might, want to spare her. But he feels as if he has to kill her. There is much that we don't know about Chigurh, and we will never really know. He is unbelievable enough to make him believable. That is what makes him scary, effective, startling, and truly, utterly unsettling.
