No Country for Old Men — Don't Underestimate the Audience

Comments · 3.6K

• CO

  @Coleo20 · 8 years ago

  Tiny detail I just noticed: There's this recurring scene we see in action and suspense films nowadays where the protagonist is driving through an intersection and they get T-Boned, but you almost always see the car that hits them in the distance of the interior shot.  The scene where  Chigurgh gets T-Boned it comes from the opposite side, almost like the viewer is in his headspace, and we're just as oblivious to the other car as he is.  Anyway, I just thought I'd point that out, even though it's a bit off topic.

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• AS

  @AslanW · 7 years ago

  The lack of music score is also a very conscious and effective move in this film.

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• RA

  @radonstone · 7 years ago

  I've just noticed that all three men also sit in the same seat at one point, yet their paths all drastically diverge to various outcomes

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• RI

  @richhenry7540 · 6 years ago

  The good guy asks for a jacket, and they sell it to him. <br>The bad guy asks for a shirt, and the kid gives it up out of kindness.

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• TR

  @traileranderror · 7 years ago

  I always thought this film was overrated. This makes me realize, I&apos;m just an idiot....and not competent enough to be able to understand fantastic filmmaking. Well done.

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• JU

  @justinhopper5941 · 6 years ago

  “No country for old men”and “there will be blood”..damn we were spoiled in 2007

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• TH

  @Thehintercast · 8 years ago

  I remember when my girl friend told me this movie is boring. I pulled a coin outta my pocket and told her to call it.<br>What happened next was up to chance...

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• IA

  @iamtheiconoclast3 · 6 years ago

  I think there&apos;s another subtle aspect to the moral that most people missed in this film. Up until Moss&apos; showdown with Chigurh, the villain is seen as almost immortal and essentially unstoppable. Moss is able to wound him and offer him his first true challenge, which feels emotionally appropriate because Moss is the protagonist. Then, when Moss is killed, Chigurh goes back to being unstoppable and terrifying again. Chigurh is a personification of evil itself, which none of us can survive without the aid of heroes or at least heroism; in Moss&apos; absence, evil is free to move about and operate unimpeded and unchallenged. At the end of the film, when Chigurh is severely injured in a startling car accident and limps away with his bones sticking out, his future is now uncertain, and he is shown in a shocking turn to be much more vulnerable than we had thought. We are left to realize that the image of unconfrontable evil in our minds was always an illusion and an exaggeration; that even the most terrifying villain is ultimately powerless against the forces of entropy which rule the universe. He may be stronger or more fearsome than we are, but to a careless moment at a stop sign, he&apos;s just another accident victim. At the very moment of the film when the sheriff is explaining his choice to resign, certain that he cannot contend with the changing times, the thing he feared the most is shown broken and defeated.<br><br><br>So to me, the real moral of the film is that nothing - not even the devil himself - is immune to the winds of change. There was never a &quot;good old days&quot;; only ever a relentless march of time, which consumes everything in its path. The sheriff, at this point, ceases to become a character, and joins the viewer in offering interpretations of the film we have just seen. And in failing to understand the fragility of all things - even evil - the sheriff&apos;s interpretation of the film, and indeed his whole assessment of his world, is shown to be tragically incorrect.

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• ST

  @stevendog40 · 5 years ago

  I remember reading the novel and getting to the part that said the protagonist&apos;s body was found, and he wasn&apos;t even killed by the main antagonist. I re-read that part at least 5 times thinking there was some kind of misprint.

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• BR

  @Brandon-rq3ys · 7 years ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KADoPXknQCI&amp;t=207"><b>3:27</b></a><b></b><b>-</b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KADoPXknQCI&amp;t=221"><b>3:41</b></a><b></b> <br>The way that entire scene played out was the most disturbing scene in a movie that I&apos;ve ever seen. <br> The way the victim stays so calm and trustworthy because he assumes it&apos;s a police officer. So much so that he even lets him put that &quot;kill piece&quot; right up to his forehead. Which I assume is exactly how it would play out in real life because people are programmed to think &quot;He&apos;s a cop, he won&apos;t hurt me.&quot; <br>A really genius scene all around.

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• FA

  @Fangtorn · 8 years ago

  One of the reasons I love shows like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul is that quite often they just show a character doing something and force the audience to figure it out. It&apos;s a really engaging and I wish more shows and movies did similar instead of spoon-feeding exposition.

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• BR

  @bricecate · 7 years ago (edited)

  This movie was brilliant, it told you nothing, but gave you everything.

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