Today I watched the movie No Country for Old Men. It features a very strong and intellectual main character. He is married and lives with his wife in a very rural area. One day he goes hunting in the desert, where he unexpectedly finds a large amount of money. The plot is actually very simple: he has to defend himself from a man who is chasing him to kill him.
The man chasing him has a very complex psychology. At first, we cannot properly understand him, but as the movie progresses we slowly begin to understand how he thinks. Once we understand him, it becomes difficult to even desire a specific ending, because both of the characters are extremely strong.
The protagonist — I will call him the hero — tries many intelligent strategies to escape from the man chasing him. However, at a certain point in the story, very unexpectedly, the hero dies.
One thing I really liked about the movie is how it feels like the viewer is simply observing events. It feels as if the camera is quietly moving behind the story. There are no overly dramatic scenes; everything feels like normal events that could happen in real life.
Because of that, I think the most impressive aspect of the film is the screenplay. It is quite complex in how it is structured. Throughout the movie, the villain chases the hero for a long time. But when the hero finally dies, the movie does not even show the scene of his death. We only learn that he was shot.
Even with such an unusual narrative decision, the ending still works and feels satisfying. The villain himself is also a very psychologically complex character. He is an assassin who kills many people who cross his path.
So in terms of storyline, the movie is actually very straightforward. The entire film mostly revolves around two main characters: the man who finds the money in the desert, and the man who hunts him down. There is also a police officer who appears throughout the story. Many people consider him a very important character, but I personally see the movie mainly as a conflict between the hero and the villain.
The most interesting aspect I found in the movie is the way the characters are written and presented. It has been a long time since I have seen two such detailed characters in a film. The last time I remember seeing a character with this level of depth was in a hitman movie directed by Luc Besson. I cannot immediately recall the title, but it is about an assassin who develops a complex relationship with a young girl. I remember that movie having a very strong character as well.
In No Country for Old Men, the protagonist is powerful in his own way, but the villain feels even stronger. By “strong,” I mean that his character has a very deep and complex psychological structure. His intelligence and the way he understands the world seem very different from normal people. I am not saying whether his actions are right or wrong; what makes him interesting is the complexity of his thought process.
There is a scene where he tosses a coin to decide whether a man should live or die. On the surface, this is a very simple concept that we have seen in many movies. But because of how the character is written and portrayed, the scene becomes very intense and memorable.
Another thing I liked is that the movie does not rely heavily on dramatic background music or exaggerated violence. Everything is presented in a very straightforward way. The storytelling feels calm and controlled.
Overall, I really liked the film. It is one of those movies where the strength comes from the characters themselves, and it is definitely a movie worth spending time on.