NO
COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007,
Please
jot down answers to the following questions, and answer three at length (around 150
words each), with details and examples.
One of the three should be to the last question.
1. Discuss the meaning of the title. What is the point of it? Why do you think the novelist chose it and the Coens chose to keep it?
2. Right after the title credit we hear Sheriff Bell in a voice-over monologue***, against a series of static images. What is the point of that monologue? How does it set the tone for the film?
3. Why does the film open as it does? What do we learn from it? What is your first impression of the man that we will come to know as Anton Chigurh?
4. The next character to be introduced is Llewelyn Moss. What is your first impression of him? To what extent does your impression of him change over the course of the film, and to what extent does it stay the same?
5. The plot of the film hinges upon Llewlyn’s decision to go back with the water. Why does he make this decision? Is it just a plot device, or is it in keeping with his character?
6. Discuss Carla Jean Moss and her relationship with her husband.
7. How about Sheriff Ed Tom Bell? Discuss him as a character.
8. What role does the Woody Harrelson character, Carter Wells, play in the film? Why is he here?
9. By the end of the film, what have we come to learn about Anton Chigurh? Is he simply “The Devil”? Do we have any idea about what is driving him, or does he remain completely elusive and enigmatic?
10. This is, of course, an extremely violent film. What is the point of all this violence? Are the directors simply pandering to the blood-lust of audiences who love stories about psycho killers? Are there larger statements being made?
11. The film plays with our expectations in a number of ways. We think we know what will happen, and then something else does. Give some examples of ways in which the film departs from the expected. Why do the filmmakers choose this strategy?
12. Discuss the setting of the film. To what extent does the
13. Discuss the film’s use of music. When do we hear it, and how does it contribute to the mood of the film?
14. This film won a number of Academy Awards, including the Best Picture award. Are you surprised at that choice? Why or why not? What do you think made this film a worthy choice for the top picture award?
15. Compare/contrast each of the reviews of No Country. What is the main argument of each?
***Sheriff Ed Tom Bell’s opening monologue:
I was sheriff of this county when I was 25 years old. Hard to believe. My grandfather was a lawman. Father too. Me and him was sheriffs at the same time, him up in Plano and me out here. I think he was pretty proud of that. I know I was.
Some of the old-time sheriffs never even wore a gun. Lot of folks find that hard to believe. Jim Scarborough never carried one. That’s the younger Jim. Gaston Boykins wouldn’t wear one up in ComancheCounty.
I always liked to hear about the old-timers. Never missed a chance to do so. You can’t help but compare yourself against the old-timers. Can’t help but wonder how they’d have operated these times.
There’s this boy I sent to the electric chair at Huntsville here a while back. My arrest and my testimony. He killed a 14-year-old girl. Paper said it was a crime of passion, but he told me there wasn’t any passion to it. Told me he’d been planning to kill somebody for about as long as he could remember. Said if they turned him out, he’d do it again. Said he knew he was going to hell. Be there in about 15 minutes. I don’t know what to make of that. I sure do don’t.
The crime you see now, it’s hard to even take its measure. It’s not that I’m afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But I don’t want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don’t understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He’d have to say “OK. I’ll be part of this world.”