Film of Chance and Choice

Last night I sat and watched "No Country for Old Men". A film released in 2007 and which won an Oscar for best picture 2008. OK so I'm a little behind when it comes to movie releases. Anyway it's directed by the Coen Brothers who also directed "Fargo", "The Big Lebowski" and "Burn After Reading" among others.

I was expecting a lot from this film, violence, intelligence, suspense and plot twists, not to mention that classic Coen Brothers atmospheric touch. It did not disappoint. I won't go into the details of the plot for I'm sure that most movie savvy people have seen it already and I don't want to spoil it for those that have yet to see it. I will say that it leaves the viewer wide open to interpretation. Just when I thought I knew what was going on or what was about to happen it changed. This was refreshing for me, because there is nothing I hate more than a film that is so predictable it feels as though I've seen it a hundred times before. The ending was less than dramatic and does leave you with a sense of incompleteness. I literally was left asking befuddled, "That's how it ends?" not because it's a bad ending but it was just not something I was expecting. After careful thought in interpreting what had just transpired, I got it. This movie is one that will have you thinking for days after viewing it. A sure sign that it made an impact on the viewer. There aren't many films that can do this to me. This one did, otherwise I would not be wasting blog space to write about it.

Unlike "Fargo" which was also violent but littered with dark humor, "No Country for Old Men" has very little to laugh about. It is dark, unforgiving, realistic and menacing. At the same time it conveys human nature almost perfectly. It deals with religious beliefs, sacrifice, self worth, mortality, risk and chance. Heavy on the latter two. Risk and chance are the main themes throughout the film. Just as in real life the choices we make and the risks we take effect everything and everyone around us so it is portrayed in this movie. Albeit with more dark and hopeless overtones. I will certainly sit down and watch this one again with a different mind frame than I had on my first viewing. I can almost guarantee I will come away more enlightened with a better understanding of not only the film but of life in general. It is that type of a film. Hell I might even watch it a third time.