Film Adaptation Of No Country For Old Men

In the film adaptation of No Country for Old Men directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, the directors use setting, motif, and plot to show how the modernization of Texas effects people, especially the older generations and causes them to lose grip with the new world that is blossoming. One way the Coen brothers do this is by mise-en-scene, but to be more specific, the setting.In this film the rural west represents more than just an old way of life. In a way the setting, West Texas, represents the calm and free parts of life, but also the dangerous and dark aspects of life. This in turn helps establish certain characters traits. An example of this is Chigurh, the psychopathic serial killer. His character is enhanced by the horror and danger that …show more content…
This in turn is reflected in the title of the film, No Country for Old Men. The Sheriff is a symbol for showing that sometimes tradition is overwhelmed, when it comes to the modernization of an old town. The directors portray him as the main character, so they can depict the way older people feel towards the changes that happen over a short period of time. Thought out the film the structure shows that as time passes, he is able to understand himself better. As the film progress , the audience is able to understand his feeling through different tactics. One way this happens is through him just talking about what is going on in his head, without actually telling anyone. Also we see some of his feelings through facial expressions, where we see the despair and the internal struggle he is going through trying to understand the situation that is happening to him. Towards the end of the film there is a shot that dissolves into him driving to the cat man’s home, where he finally discusses his troubles to a person, since before he would only do it in narrative form so only the audience could hear what he was really thinking. During this scene he talks about him being “overmatched” in his work. And that getting older has been the cause of this feeling and the reason of him deciding to retire and leave the line of work that he can no longer understand. The times have changed so much that he could no longer comprehend what he was doing. Since he stood for the traditional way of life he became overpowered by the new way people taught, he was not familiar with it, and he could not seem to adapt to this new modern lifestyle. So the only solution he could think of that seemed right for him was to leave and not try to understand the new