No Country For Old Men: Javier Bardem is a Total Badass

1. ****(Before reading my column on No Country For Old Men, I would like to make you aware that my main focus of writing this is to solely display my perception of Anton Chigurh (Played by Javier Bardem), the antagonist of the film. Although the overlying plot of No Country For Old Men is deep meaning regarding the pessimistic progression of the world, I personally think that discussing one of the most notorious antagonists in movie history, Anton Chigurh, would be far more interesting).

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The Coen brother's 2007 hit movie, No Country For Old Men, is not your regular western film. Yeh yeh... there is an antagonist and protagonist fighting over money, but TRUST ME WHEN I SAY THAT THIS IS NOT YOUR REGULAR WESTERN FILM. Instead of creating a boring, ordinary plot where the protagonist Llewelyn Moss (Played by Josh Brolin) chases around the antagonist Anton Chigurh (Played by Javier Bardem), Ethan and Joel Coen rather flip flop this idea.

Llewelyn Moss, while out hunting, stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong in the backcountry of Texas. While looking through the gruesome scene, Moss finds a briefcase filled with money. Although having the obvious underlying feeling of suspicion and danger, Moss could not resist the temptation of acquiring an absurd amount of money. In result of taking the briefcase though, Moss unknowingly signed a death wish arranged by insane killer Anton Chigurh.

Anton Chigurh is one of the most unique characters. Chirgurh has distinctive quirks which makes him ruthless and scary. For example, Chigurh at times flips a coin, telling his victim to call "heads or tails" to decide their fate. In addition to this, Chigurh's main weapon of choice is a captive bolt stunner, which is similar to a gun but uses high pressure air bursts instead of bullets. Quirks, like that of above, create a unique and thus even scarier killer. To continue, besides being cold and remorseless throughout the film, Chigurh is continuously calm. Even after shooting someone, Chirgurh calmly sits in a chair while blood spills throughout the room. As the pool of blood comes closer to Chirgurh, he calmly lifts his feet up to make sure blood does not get on his shoes. This tranquility, I believe, is the scariest characteristic of Chirgurh. By showing little emotion, Chirgurh thus displays his psychotic perception of life. In addition to this, character Carson Wells (Played by Woody Harrelson) described Chigurh as having a "dark complexion" and eyes "as blue as lapiz... like wet stones". Lastly, one of the most memorable scenes from No Country For Old Men is the dialogue exchanged between a gas station clerk and Chigurh. Throughout the scene, the gas station clerk unknowingly verbally "digs himself into hole". Finally after realizing the built up tension between Chigurh and himself, the clerk starts to talk less and less. Chigurh then decides to pull out a coin, forcing the clerk to "call it". The clerk calls "heads", and luckily the coin lands on "heads". Soon after, Chigurh tells the man how lucky he was and leaves. Due to how early the scene was in the film, I was unsure if the "coin flip" was a bluff by Chigurh to scare the clerk. Later on in the film though, we find out that this was not the case and Chigurh instead kills people if they pick the wrong side that the coin will land on. Just a plain and simple scary man!!

Thank you and stay safe during this pandemic by wearing a facemask, constantly washing your hands, and practicing social distancing.

-Seth Greenberg