I saw this movie completely by accident. Intending to go to "Charlie Wilson's War" we discovered the times had been printed incorrectly in paper and the embassy was in fact showing the new Cohen Bros film. Well we were there, so we went to that instead.
One of the best mistakes of my life.
This movie is exceptional on so many levels. Not only does it posses the most ruthless and brilliant of stroylines, it makes interesting comments on the subjects of individual identity and the role of chance in life, and has some of the most beautiful shots I have ever seen. if you haven't seen this and wish to, you may not want to read this.
The title itself comments on the role of the older "retired figures" in society. The sherrif is planning retirementand for all his knowledge and experience is unable to catch Chigurh. lwellen keeps referring to himself as "retired" and has more luck against chigurh beacause he himself is younger, but he still is cut down. Because of his similarity to the sherrif in type.
The ex marine comments at one point that Anton Chirgurh is "nothing like you, Hell he's not even like me." Here the Cohen Bros are revealing that the mexican sadist is nothing but, he is just of a new school, "a set of morals" that are different than those possesed by the 1970's Texan citizens. These morals are displayed when he offers the coin toss to the store clerk, he smiles widely and truly when he realises that luck dictates he need not kill. He is not killing for no reason, he is just killing for a reason that is totally alien to the "old men". In a land dominated by this new set of morals, alien to Tommy Lee Jones' character, there is no place for the old school. As shown by the deaths of all the old school cahracters in the film, even in the stroies told to the sherrif.
The role of luck is also strongly commented on, Lwellen stumbles accross the murders and the money simply because he missed a shot on a deer, had he hit he would have been completely unaffected by the whole saga. Also at the very end of the film Chirgurh would be away completely scott free except that someone runs a red light and destroys his car, thus bringing ambulances and police.
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2 comments:
This film is on my must-see list. My wife has read the book and thinks it is ridiculously violent and lacks a moral core of any kind. Has anyone out there read Cormac McCarthy?
well deserved of the best film oscar then???
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