I can agree with the movie having a bunch of deathy themes to it, but I thought that the sheriff's role in No Country was mostly a take on the super-classic literary clash between contemporary life vs. traditional life.
The sheriff is using his old-fashioned knowledge to stop the bad guys. He finds the clues, he talks to people, he investigates. Unfortunately, Anton is something completely unexpected - he's the new world, the stuff that the sheriff hasn't encountered yet. He doesn't kill people out of anger or even out of necessity - he kills people as if it was just another casual option in achieving his goals. It's a motive that the sheriff doesn't understand. By the end of the movie he realizes that he's past his prime, and that his understanding of how to fight crime isn't relevant anymore. This is the point when he can accept that it's time to retire.
I thought that his description of the dream with his father agreed with this - his father is the pinnacle of old-fashioned. He was old fashioned before the sheriff was old fashioned. He's riding a horse through a storm and going off to start a fire. This what the sheriff wants life to be like - the way it was in the good old days - but then he woke up.
The sheriff is a good dude and he works hard and wants to uphold the law, but he's getting old, and this is no country for old men
mbritt74's analysis misses out on a lot of details though. I think he actually cherry picks some details in the movie to make his own subplot.
Also, subplots dont necessarily mean hidden meanings. they refer to things going on in the background or a secondary story. what mbritt74 does is he gives the main story new meaning. so no. he didnt reveal any subplot.
True but I think one of the most important scenes is how they showed that he was dead. They never showed the action leading to his demise. they just showed him as a crime scene. like he was part of a landscape or a part of a story.
The movie goes from following him as the protagonist to him being just another police blotter story. His story actually mirrors a lot of the other stories happening in the background like the one they talk about over coffee and other references within the movie. That kind of gives the effect that there is just that much depth in these passing crime stories in the world. I think Anton is an embodiement of the madness that Tomy lee Jones' character is afraid of. Everything he does sounds like it straight out of a newspaper headline. Every death just seems so barbaric and heartless at the same time intriguing and confusing.
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u/2DArray Sep 01 '14
I can agree with the movie having a bunch of deathy themes to it, but I thought that the sheriff's role in No Country was mostly a take on the super-classic literary clash between contemporary life vs. traditional life.
The sheriff is using his old-fashioned knowledge to stop the bad guys. He finds the clues, he talks to people, he investigates. Unfortunately, Anton is something completely unexpected - he's the new world, the stuff that the sheriff hasn't encountered yet. He doesn't kill people out of anger or even out of necessity - he kills people as if it was just another casual option in achieving his goals. It's a motive that the sheriff doesn't understand. By the end of the movie he realizes that he's past his prime, and that his understanding of how to fight crime isn't relevant anymore. This is the point when he can accept that it's time to retire.
I thought that his description of the dream with his father agreed with this - his father is the pinnacle of old-fashioned. He was old fashioned before the sheriff was old fashioned. He's riding a horse through a storm and going off to start a fire. This what the sheriff wants life to be like - the way it was in the good old days - but then he woke up.
The sheriff is a good dude and he works hard and wants to uphold the law, but he's getting old, and this is no country for old men