A series of violent events ensue after a hunter (Josh Brolin) decides to keep the heroin and $2 million in cash he discovers amongst a pile of dead men near the Rio Grande.

No Country for Old Men is one of those films that you can’t think about whether or not you liked it just after leaving the theater. You kind of have to ponder it a little. It’s like eating different kinds of mushrooms. You know you like mushrooms, but this particular kind? This particular flavor? Why? Why not? Coen Brothers’ films have that affect on people. I always feel like I’m watching something special when watching a Coen bros film. It’s just a matter of figuring out how special and why it’s special. Coming out of the movie theater last night I felt a bit discombobulated about the film and about many things. But, as the night wore on, the characters, the dialogue, the landscape, the cinematography began to make sense. Started to bloom like flowers unfolding (so goes a Chris Cornell song).

I decided this morning, yes, I really liked this film. It’s wild, tamed, raw and ruminating. The acting is great, the directing is tops and the cinematography speaks a sublte and beautiful foreign tongue. Though the very thick Texan accents made it a bit difficult at times to understand some of the dialogue, the accents, coupled with the wild, yet tame landscape of the Texas towns and that of the drug business, captured the sense of a world without sense, justice and still a world that plods along despite of it, or perhaps, because of it.

No Country for Old Men is obviously a metaphor for senseless violence. The hitman, Anton Chigur, played chillingly well by Javier Bardem, who was sent (by who knows) to track down the hunter who stole $2 million in drug money, had no moral compass in which to guide how he handled anyone who got in his way. Chigur represented the nameless, unrelenting force that powers the drug industry as well as violence itself. His last kill (I won’t spoil it for you) was especially symbolic of the seeming randomness and senselessness of the drug world. The sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) and the hunter despite the best intentions were powerless to stop them. It’s actually a very sad, disturbing perspective and story. But it is moving nonetheless. And certainly worth watching and pondering.

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