I thought I was going to get a "bang 'em up, shoot 'em dead" movie and I got exactly that but I also got one of the most meaningful movies I've seen for awhile. As usual, I'm better at identifying the symbols than figuring out what they mean so I depend on some of you. Okay, I’m going to try to figure this thing out. I’ll no doubt fail. If you think I’m all screwed up, please let me know. Does somebody have a Cliffnotes that I can borrow?
No Country for Old Men is about givers and takers and those who no longer want to play the game. It is about fate and about our ability or inability to take control of our own lives by living by our principles no matter what cards the arbitrary gods of fate may deal us.
The killer in this movie, named Sugar ironically, is about as cold and as mean as any killer in any movie including Silence of the Lambs. His way of dealing with fate is to kill before others have the chance to kill him. He does not, however, seem to take lives indiscriminately. As Carson, played by Woody, the bounty hunter who is trying to kill Sugar and ends up as one of Sugar’s inevitable victims says:
Sugar’s “…a peculiar man. You might even say he has principles, principles that transcend money or drugs or anything like that. He’s not like you. He’s not even like me.”
Sugar seems to track down whoever gets in his way, whoever takes from him in one form or another. He seems to take the lives that he needs to take. On the other hand, those lives that he does not need to take, he leaves to fate. If it is not in his plans to take a life, he takes a quarter out of his pocket and asks his potential victim to call it. If the victim calls it right, Sugar spares his life. If not, Sugar kills him. Ultimately Sugar is right, our lives are as certain as the flip of a coin. Sugar does what he can to increase his odds of living by killing.
The lawman, played by Tommy Lee Jones, who is chasing Sugar reinforces this perspective when he tells someone the story of a cattle rancher named Charlie who attempted to shoot one of his cattle but the bullet ricocheted and then hit Charlie in the shoulder. As he says, "...the outlook is not certain even between man and steer." At the same time, things are becoming more certain because they now use an air gun that lodges a steel plate right intop the steer’s brain. The steer never knows what hits him. If arbitrary fate doesn’t get us, in other words, the arbitrary decisions of others may do so. That’s why Sugar asks the bounty man who he is about to kill “if the rule that you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?”
The hero in this movie, Lewellyn seems fated to die. At the beginning of the movie it looks like Lewellyn, played by Josh Brolin, is another lifetaker. He is a kind of a witless ex-Vietnam Vet whose life seems to revolve around beer. While out hunting, he stumbles into 2 million dollars, a whole bunch of dead people and one barely alive person who asks for water. If Lewellyn simply took the money and ran at that point, he would be up 2 mill and the movie would be over. Instead, once he hides the money under his house trailer and banters with his girlfriend Carla Jean a little bit, he tries to fall asleep. Finally after awhile he gets up and says "okay" or something similar. He then grabs a full gallon of water and brings it to the crime scene. He couldn't help himself. He needed to bring him the water. As the movie progresses, it also becomes clear that the money is not so much for him as it is for Carla Jean. It’s not so clear, after all, that Lewellyn is one of the takers. As he leaves Carla Jean, he says that "he's fixing to do something dumber than hell but I'm going to do it anyway. Tell mother I love her." Carla Jean reminds him that his mother is dead and he responds by saying, "Well then I'll tell her myself." An element of inevitability is established throughout the whole movie in this scene. Of course, the irony is that Lewellyn seems as fated to die as Sugar is fated to live. Sugar’s principle of kill or be killed keeps him alive even as Lewellyn’s principles of giving people what they need, whether it's water or money, kill him.
That’s how Sugar looks at it. If it is all about fate, why not just go on a shooting spree, why care who dies and who lives. If it is all about fate, then why not take all that you can and not worry about others. On the other hand, some believe that in a world where God is silent and all of history seems to be ruled by chance, ALL we have to fall back on are our principles. In order to live with yourself, you have to live with integrity.
Ultimately, it is Lewellyn’s wife who teaches us a lesson after Lewellyn has already died. Sugar finds her and prepares to shoot her. He says he has to shoot her because it’s a promise that he made to her boyfriend. She convinces him that he has no reason to shoot her. He gives her the usual option: flip a coin and fate will decide. She refuses. We assume that he shot her. That’s the ultimate act in the midst of fate: refuse fate even if it kills you.
Also,
here’s a notable quote from Tommy Lee’s brother in the movie and I can’t quite fit it into the theme today. His brother’s back was broken when he was a deputy. The person who was in jail for breaking his back is about ready to come out. Tommy Lee asks him whether he is going to exact vengeance and he says these words:
“All the time you spend trying to get back what's been took from ya more is going out the door. After awhile you've got to get a tourniquet on it.”
Also,
the movie is riddled with clothing symbolism: people selling or lending clothes to Sugar and Lewellyn, Lewellyn not having any clothes to wear, clothes that are worn to hide wounds, Lewellyn appearing in a pure white outfit. I"m sure that the clothing fits into the giving and taking motif but I'm quite frankly not in the mood to figure it all out. You do it.
Also,
the final scene. The movie ends without resolution. The lawman has retired from law enforcement and Sugar has apparently never been caught. The movie ends with the lawman recalling a dream from which he just awoke. He is walking along with his deceased father. Suddenly his father starts to walk ahead of him and leaves him behind. The lawman sees his father walk into a forest and eventually he sees smoke in the forest. The movie ends with the lawman explaining that his father had gone up ahead of him to build a fire and set up a campsite so that they could be together at the end of the journey. That is, of course, the great hope: that this struggle of life will lead us all somewhere where we can be together with others whom we love.
No Country for Old Men is about givers and takers and those who no longer want to play the game. It is about fate and about our ability or inability to take control of our own lives by living by our principles no matter what cards the arbitrary gods of fate may deal us.
The killer in this movie, named Sugar ironically, is about as cold and as mean as any killer in any movie including Silence of the Lambs. His way of dealing with fate is to kill before others have the chance to kill him. He does not, however, seem to take lives indiscriminately. As Carson, played by Woody, the bounty hunter who is trying to kill Sugar and ends up as one of Sugar’s inevitable victims says:
Sugar’s “…a peculiar man. You might even say he has principles, principles that transcend money or drugs or anything like that. He’s not like you. He’s not even like me.”
Sugar seems to track down whoever gets in his way, whoever takes from him in one form or another. He seems to take the lives that he needs to take. On the other hand, those lives that he does not need to take, he leaves to fate. If it is not in his plans to take a life, he takes a quarter out of his pocket and asks his potential victim to call it. If the victim calls it right, Sugar spares his life. If not, Sugar kills him. Ultimately Sugar is right, our lives are as certain as the flip of a coin. Sugar does what he can to increase his odds of living by killing.
The lawman, played by Tommy Lee Jones, who is chasing Sugar reinforces this perspective when he tells someone the story of a cattle rancher named Charlie who attempted to shoot one of his cattle but the bullet ricocheted and then hit Charlie in the shoulder. As he says, "...the outlook is not certain even between man and steer." At the same time, things are becoming more certain because they now use an air gun that lodges a steel plate right intop the steer’s brain. The steer never knows what hits him. If arbitrary fate doesn’t get us, in other words, the arbitrary decisions of others may do so. That’s why Sugar asks the bounty man who he is about to kill “if the rule that you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?”
The hero in this movie, Lewellyn seems fated to die. At the beginning of the movie it looks like Lewellyn, played by Josh Brolin, is another lifetaker. He is a kind of a witless ex-Vietnam Vet whose life seems to revolve around beer. While out hunting, he stumbles into 2 million dollars, a whole bunch of dead people and one barely alive person who asks for water. If Lewellyn simply took the money and ran at that point, he would be up 2 mill and the movie would be over. Instead, once he hides the money under his house trailer and banters with his girlfriend Carla Jean a little bit, he tries to fall asleep. Finally after awhile he gets up and says "okay" or something similar. He then grabs a full gallon of water and brings it to the crime scene. He couldn't help himself. He needed to bring him the water. As the movie progresses, it also becomes clear that the money is not so much for him as it is for Carla Jean. It’s not so clear, after all, that Lewellyn is one of the takers. As he leaves Carla Jean, he says that "he's fixing to do something dumber than hell but I'm going to do it anyway. Tell mother I love her." Carla Jean reminds him that his mother is dead and he responds by saying, "Well then I'll tell her myself." An element of inevitability is established throughout the whole movie in this scene. Of course, the irony is that Lewellyn seems as fated to die as Sugar is fated to live. Sugar’s principle of kill or be killed keeps him alive even as Lewellyn’s principles of giving people what they need, whether it's water or money, kill him.
That’s how Sugar looks at it. If it is all about fate, why not just go on a shooting spree, why care who dies and who lives. If it is all about fate, then why not take all that you can and not worry about others. On the other hand, some believe that in a world where God is silent and all of history seems to be ruled by chance, ALL we have to fall back on are our principles. In order to live with yourself, you have to live with integrity.
Ultimately, it is Lewellyn’s wife who teaches us a lesson after Lewellyn has already died. Sugar finds her and prepares to shoot her. He says he has to shoot her because it’s a promise that he made to her boyfriend. She convinces him that he has no reason to shoot her. He gives her the usual option: flip a coin and fate will decide. She refuses. We assume that he shot her. That’s the ultimate act in the midst of fate: refuse fate even if it kills you.
Also,
here’s a notable quote from Tommy Lee’s brother in the movie and I can’t quite fit it into the theme today. His brother’s back was broken when he was a deputy. The person who was in jail for breaking his back is about ready to come out. Tommy Lee asks him whether he is going to exact vengeance and he says these words:
“All the time you spend trying to get back what's been took from ya more is going out the door. After awhile you've got to get a tourniquet on it.”
Also,
the movie is riddled with clothing symbolism: people selling or lending clothes to Sugar and Lewellyn, Lewellyn not having any clothes to wear, clothes that are worn to hide wounds, Lewellyn appearing in a pure white outfit. I"m sure that the clothing fits into the giving and taking motif but I'm quite frankly not in the mood to figure it all out. You do it.
Also,
the final scene. The movie ends without resolution. The lawman has retired from law enforcement and Sugar has apparently never been caught. The movie ends with the lawman recalling a dream from which he just awoke. He is walking along with his deceased father. Suddenly his father starts to walk ahead of him and leaves him behind. The lawman sees his father walk into a forest and eventually he sees smoke in the forest. The movie ends with the lawman explaining that his father had gone up ahead of him to build a fire and set up a campsite so that they could be together at the end of the journey. That is, of course, the great hope: that this struggle of life will lead us all somewhere where we can be together with others whom we love.
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