NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

US, 2007, 122 minutes, Colour.
Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Tess Harper, Barry Corbin, Stephen Root.
Directed by Joel Coen.

The Coen Brothers are back to their idiosyncratic world, this time with a story based on a novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac Mc Carthy. Intolerable Cruelty was a soufflé and the remake of The Ladykillers was misguided.

This time the setting is 1980. The initial voiceover of a weary sheriff tells us that this is a new west. It is more lawless and deadly than the old days of sheriffs and bad guys: Vietnam has scarred American consciousness and the gangster crime dramas of the past (and of the cities) are now played out in the Texas desert.

With plenty of their dry, wry humour and off-kilter characters, even in the smallest roles of clerks and kids, this is a chase thriller with a high body count as well as a frustrated attempt to administer law and order in a decent way. The Coens and Mc Carthy are telling us How the West was Lost.

Tommy Lee Jones has become something of a rugged icon of Texas. Here he is the decent one, the old-time sheriff who is a man of common-sense, practical action and useful intuitions.

Javier Bardem (who was raving made in a similar kind of role in Perdita Durango) is a memorable killer (if one wants to remember screen killers). Josh Brolin is surprisingly persuasive as the good man who illustrates the biblical maxim that the love of money is the root of all evil.

Philosophical about good and evil, with a number of yarns rolled in, this is the Coens reworking both crime and the west.

1.The work of the Coen brothers? Their reputation, style and interests, their creation of worlds and atmospheres, idiosyncratic? This film in their canon?

2.The title, the reference to the past, old men and change? The sheriff’s voice-over, the history of Texas, sheriff’s and the west, the past, not even wearing guns? The weariness in the present? Growing disillusionment? The passing of the old west, the losing of the west? The 1980s setting? Post-Vietnam? The drug era?

3.The adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, the style, literary, the beauty of the locations, the delineation of characters, issues, drama? The musical score?

4.Llewelyn out hunting, the deer, wounding the deer, chasing the deer, seeing the wounded dog, finding the massacre and the cars, the man still alive wanting water, finding the drugs, the man under the tree, the case of money, his taking it? His decision to keep the money? A good man in himself, his own Vietnam experience, two tours? The love of money as the root of all evil – and the consequences for him and his wife? His being a decent man? His love for Carla Jean, at home, the return, going out in the night to give the water, his being caught, chased, in the river, the attack of the dog and his shooting him, his wounds? Getting the medicine, urging Carla Jean to go?

5.The impact of Anton, the initial arrest, handcuffs, the deputy on the phone, Anton strangling him, taking his car, pulling the driver over, shooting him? Taking the car? The nature of his weapon? Getting stores, the dialogue between the old-timer and the issue of tossing the coin, his life being saved? Going to the site of the drug deal, with the men, killing them? Chasing Llewelyn? The monitor indicating where the money was?

6.Llewelyn, going to the motel, the discussions with the woman, getting the room, getting a second room, hiding the money in the ventilation cast, buying the goods, the clothes, preparing the pole, hearing Anton and the deaths in the next room, his hurry, Anton’s pursuit, driving, finding the hotel, finding the bug? Waiting for Anton, looking under the door, Anton turning out the lights, opening the door and his shooting? The escape, in the dark, getting the truck and the driver being shot? His wounds, the blood, Anton wounded? The pause in the drama for each to recuperate?

7.The portrait of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, at home, his wife and the discussions, his work, with Wendell? Laconic, dry sense of humour, commonsensed? The western heritage? His ancestors? Riding with Wendell and getting the clues? Discerning, not doing anything unnecessary, the paperwork, his assistant and the discussion about commitment? Going to Carla Jean? At work, going to the motels?

8.Llewelyn, his being wounded, deciding what to do, across the border, buying the jacket from the boys, getting the beer, pretending to be drunk, passing over into Mexico, the sleeping guard? Throwing the case over the fence, checking into hospital, the treatment?

9.Carson, with the officer in charge, his confidence, knowing about the bug, his having seen Anton? His finding Llewelyn within three hours, going to the hospital, explaining the situation, returning to the hotel – Anton present, their discussion, the phone ringing, Anton killing him?

10.Anton and his trying to track Llewelyn down, going to his caravan, the discussion with the obstinate lady at the desk, not giving any information?

11.Anton phoning Llewelyn, his escape, back to the US, his getting more clothes, contacting Carla Jean – and the subplot of her mother’s health, cancer? Advice to go to El Paso? The information picked up?

12.Anton and the car bomb, it exploding, his getting medication from the pharmacy, treating himself and the detail, going to El Paso, hijacking the chicken man’s truck? The massacre at the hotel? Llewelyn, waiting for him, the girl at the pool, Llewelyn’s defiance – and his death? The massacre at the hotel?

13.The sheriff, arriving late, having to tell the truth to Carla Jean? Carla Jean burying her mother? Anton’s arrival, talking with her, her refusal to toss the coin, accepting death?

14.Anton and his confidence, hiding in the motel, driving in the street, the accident? Buying the boy’s shirt, disappearing?

15.Ed, his reflections, going to the motel, failing to find Anton? The visit to Ellis, the discussions about the past, Ellis as a veteran, the cup of coffee with him? His being at home, the dreams, telling the stories about his father, his wife’s support?

16.The film set in 1980, the end of an era, the beginning of a new age? Seen from the perspective of a quarter of a century on?