No Country for Hope

This year was the first time I can remember in which I saw all of the films that were nominated for Best Picture in the Academy Awards. I liked four of them (Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, and There Will Be Blood). The one I didn't like, No Country for Old Men, won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director. What's wrong with me?

Or should I ask, "What's wrong with the voters in the Academy?" Or "What's wrong with our country?" No Country for Old Men is a movie in which the villain wins, in which evil wins, and in which the mumbling hero quits in fear and despair. There is no character in the movie to admire or like, there is no character development, the ending is as unsatisfying as Weight Watchers cookie, and there is not even a smidgen of hope to be found anywhere. Is the message that this is no country for hope?

I asked a good friend who is a successful writer and member of the Academy if she liked the movie and she said, "I hated it, but my 23-year-old son loved it." I replied, "Strange, my 25-year-old son loved it, too. He said it was the best movie of the year, as did my wife's 29-year-old son." I read the reader reviews on The New York Times website and they were, I'd estimate, about 75 percent negative; well, more than just negative, they were witheringly critical: "No there there," "...non-ending," "repellant," "very nicely styled garbage," "testicle-level rubbish," "Terminator movie shot in Texas," and "US film industry has sunk to this very low standard," among many others in a similar vein.

I guess the comment I agree most with is "very nicely styled garbage." But what fascinated me most is that young people who I know are Obama supporters, and, thus, most likely embrace a message of hope, loved a film in which there was absolutely no hope. In order to explain this apparent contradiction, I went back to Bruno Bettelheim's book, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales to see if I could find some answers.

Bettelheim writes that children like fairy tales because at a very deep level the stories help them deal with their greatest fears. Certainly No Country for Old Men is no redemptive fairy tale, even though it begins with the visual message, "once upon a time, in a place far, far away." But it is a story about random, horrific, technology-enhanced violent death without death. In his book, Bettelheim refers to J.R.R. Tolkien, who described the facets which are necessary in a good fairy tale: fantasy, recovery, escape, and consolation -- recovery from great despair, escape from some great danger, but, most of all, consolation.

Old Country has the bleak fantasy land of Texas in the 80s -- a time our current president was living near Marfa, TX, the location for the film -- but there is no recovery and absolutely no escape. But what about consolation? Could it be that the greatest fear younger people have is of the random nature of uncontrollable violence and death by pathological foreigners, as horrendously imprinted on their memories by the tragedy of 9/11 and by continuing images of death in Iraq -- a fear that is manipulated and given growth hormones by the same Texas president? If so, then perhaps No Country is a film that makes people confront their greatest fears and provides a psychological outlet for them.

However, the movie's ending in which Sheriff Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) gives up, is as unsatisfying as if Frodo and Sam Gamgee in The Fellowship of the Ring had said, "Screw the ring. There's no hope; let the Dark Lord have it -- my big feet hurt."

I'm sorry; we need heroes, not villains in our modern stories myths. We need hobbits and Jedi Knights, not wimps. We need hope, not despair.

Comments

[jwg37741]

If this movie were directed by you or me it would not have even gained art house theater distribution. But brew up a cocktail of Coen and Weinstein brothers, add a dash of TLJ and spend a bunch of advertiisng dough and you have a 2008 drink is just too irrestible for Hollwood Academy sheep. The pre-Oscar buzz was more seductive than Circe's siren calls to Ulysses and the smartie voters were not tied to any mast.

Another picture nearly as dark in story with much better wrting and acting and, arguably, better directing, "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead" garnered nary a nomination. If I had to prove my convictions of preference for both movies based upon spending my own money to see each----knowing what I do having seen both---I would shell out a dollar to see "Old Men" on a rainy day Tuesday in non-election season and with little other media options. On a beutiful sunny afternoon or Saturday night I would pay $10 to see i"devil"again----and I am buying it as soon as it comes to the home video market.

[truthiness]

No Country For Old Men would have been the worst movie I saw this year, if I hadn't foolishly gone to see Lions for Lambs.

NCFOM had no character development. I didn't care about any of those people and was revolted as 13 were killed over the course of less than two hours.

LFL was not a movie, it was an incoherent political statement.

Too bad "Once", the Irish film that won best song, wasn't nominated for best picture. It was charming.

[chriswarner]

Unlike you, I did not see any of the movies nominated for best film, except George Clooney's entry, which was forced and predictably canned. Most of my favorite movies never get nominated like Star Wars, the greatest movie of all time. It is easy to understand how hope is lost on a generation growing up with two terms of Bubba's lies followed by two terms of W. Rather than content with a positive message, success may now be about pessimism in the face of global warming and escalating greed.

[SeanW]

It has been awhile in my young mind since a critically successful film has polarized audiences as much as "No Country For Old Men". Whether it is the ending or the general ideas presented in the film the responses I have heard from all demographics has been varied. I liken it to a sports star such as Kobe Bryant or Terrell Owens. Both of these players in their respective sports could easily be argued as the best at their position. Finely tuned athletes that perform at the top of their game and garner the awards for those performances. Now they are also seen as poison in the locker room, completely inconsiderate of their affect on the larger whole, the "I'm gonna get mine" mentality. The one thing you simply cannot do is call them garbage, or even nicely styled garbage. Talent is talent, quality is quality. In a world where success, as defined by your opening weekend at the box office, can literally be bought (not cheaply I might add with the average marketing budget for a studio picture around $30 million), the Cohen brothers crafted a truly great film. It doesn't tell you what to think, it knowingly presents a problem that the characters and audience are unhappy with. Tough luck it says, akin to French Neo-Realist films , you want a happy ending "Fool's Gold" is playing down the hall.

[wanked]

They say the true artist is a mirror of his times. What you dont like about No Country for Old Men reflects the mood of the world for the last 6 years EXACTLY. There is NEVER a happy ending anymore...is there.

[geg6]

Um, I'm over 45, support Obama, and thought "No Country" was a far superior film to all the other nominees. And, if you absolutely must try to link Hollywood film preferences to political point of view as if they have any sort of connection at all, then perhaps you might notice that many Obama supporters and those crazy 25 year olds who like the film as much as I, see a film that is actually about reality.

Amazing thing that reality. It's not always tied up with a pretty ribbon with heroes and villains all easily spotted and categorized. And happy endings aren't always how the movies define them.

No wonder so many of my generation don't understand what is happening this election season. The Boomers have been so self-absorbed in their own little world that they have failed to notice that the rest of the world has passed them right by.

[beanhole]

what i don't get is all the hype about "Juno." It's an homage to the right-wing nuts who don't support a woman's right to have an abortion. And before you jump on me that she actually made a choice, i don't buy that she changed her mind about following through because the waiting room was too noisy... that's the explanation? and what, this actress gets a nomination based on what? her whiny, monotone acting? i like to be surprised and challenged by films, which is what happend when i viewd "no country." "Juno" was nothing new.

[goodsports]

Excellent point. Well said!

[OttoMann]

It seems that your complaint boils down to: I wanted No Country For Old Men to be a fairy tale, a myth. Instead, it was realistic -- boo-hoo. When you write: "I'm sorry; we need heroes, not villains in our modern stories myths. We need hobbits and Jedi Knights, not wimps. We need hope, not despair." What you're really saying is, we need fantasy, not reality. We need wishful thinking; we need to pretend the world is different than it is. One of the points I think the film is making is that these horrible demonic people have always been, and will continue to be, around. (BTW, what did you think of The Godfather? You must absolutely hate it -- all the characters are bad people, the bad guy doesn't get caught or pay a price, there's no happy ending, etc.)

[JuliaRB]

Your analysis helped me understand the incomprehensible choice that Hollywood made. Unlike my baby boomer generation that had and lost two Kennedys and Martin Luther King, today's youth culture has been without heroes. They are used to the scandals of Clinton, the incompetence of Bush presidency, and the accepted and pervasive violence of our culture. Yet they want a hero too and I sense that's why they are flocking to Obama. Now we just need to make sure that we put a bullet proof box around him so that we all don't lose our 21st century hero.

[StephenSmoliar]

Since you are primarily a journalist, Charles, let me recommend a couple of sources for your examination. Most important (because it is the one most likely to have influenced the Coen Brothers) is Brecht's theory of Epic Theater, which is extremely consistent with all the language you brought to bear on your case. Then you might want to check out a story by Brecht's fellow countryman (who preceded him by about a century), Heinrich von Kleist. The story is "The Foundling;" and, if your reaction is as strong as it was to NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, you can then take a look at J. Hillis Miller's analysis of it in his book, VERSIONS OF PYGMALION. Since I continue to believe that our fictions say more about who we are than any "objective data points" can, I think these sources may help resolve your perplexity.

[Mediacurmudgeon]

Excellent advice, I will check out the sources you suggest. I like your notion that "our fictions say more about how we are than 'objective data points' can. I guess what I was suggesting that I hope we are about hope rather than despair. But I do think young people are looking at random violence in our stories in order to resolve some of their fears after 9/11.

[ATLiberal]

I am a 46 yr old man who thought that No Country for Old Men was a great movie. It ended like it would have in real life. What a concept!

[SamThornton]

It's not often a bad review makes me want to see a movie. I'm torn right now between looking for a CD or a bootleg copy. Maybe I'll wait for the TV release.

[Mediacurmudgeon]

I think you ought to look at it via a bootleg copy -- appropriate for the movie. I recommend you see the movie; it's riveting, just not my cup of tea.

[LeslieGriffith]

This sense of abandonment by our young people is very real. They know the united states is now in the middle east. Who ever gets untangled in that mess?

They have a right to feel hopeless and screwed. they are.

[tweedledum]

My native California and the U.S.A. had become "no country for THIS 54 year old man'. I am so glad I moved to Canada two years ago...a kinder, gentler yet more prosperous country. Hopefully, for all of you stranded in an a declining empire with its myraid of problems both foreign and domestic, an Obama presidency can turn things around to a small degree. The Coen Brother's movie is a classic...perhaps those who found the movie depressing could address the violence and social injustice that plagues the country, rather that look for a fictional Jedi master to comfort them

[Mediacurmudgeon]

A thoughtful comment. Perhaps Sen. Obama is a Jedi master. Nice thought. But you bring up a good point, which is that if we want things to get better, we'd better not count on others. This, of course, means that we'd better stop driving gas-guzzling SUV's, start saving energy by turning off lights, and take some pain to stop global warming.

[Clinton]

This is true, part of the point of the movie seemed to be the fact that people were grossly underestimating the factors involved in the 'drug war'. The portrayal of psychopathology was chilling, and the relentlessness of the pursuit of money reminds me of the corporate ideal (meaning their actions, not the sanctimonious chit chat we see on commercials).
It is a great movie, and this type of intractable evil is what the US is up against (and enables). We either face it or become it's victims.