No Country for Old Men (spoilers)

[Your Mom]

Ok so what the hell? The guy just got away?!? And the movie just kinda seemed to end out of the blue there. What was with that? I don't get it at all. Anyone help me out?

[brenchill]

I didn't get it either the first time I watched it. The film focuses alot on events that you DON'T get to see, which is quite odd compared to what we're use to seeing from Hollywood cinema. THIS should clear anything up that you didn't understand.

Edited February 28, 2008 by Butch and Cassidy

[Guest RingoHatesBenji]

I don't think you missed anything with Chighur getting away, sometimes the bad guy wins. Plus it's a Cormac McCarthy story, bad things happen

As for the ending, the works of Cormac McCarthy are always deeply routed in gnoticism (not to be confused with agnosticism). This basically pertains to the belief that we are divine souls trapped in an imperfect world, and that some day we will get "our rest". It's deeply Christian sure, but if you look at the ending of the movie, you can extrapolate some meaning from it.

[Pepsi]

I loved the ending the first time I saw it and still do. It's so anti-hollywood, I love it.

[RPS]

I loved the open endings of the movie. Pretty much from the small FAQ's I've read, I heavily disagree with what some say. In particular, when they say that Chigurh wasn't at the hotel and that it was Sheriff's Bells imagination. But there was two hotel rooms blocked off - I saw the situation as being comparable to the heads or tails, however, with rooms. Sheriff Bell simply choose the "right" hotel and lived.

As well, the endings of the movie, to me, put Chigurh and Bell at very different locations. Chigurh had fulfilled his word - he had gone through with everything, including his promise to Moss that he would kill Moss and his wife and get the money back. However, Bell on the other hand, was unable to fulfill his word. He couldn't save Moss or his wife, he was unable to ultimately catch Chigurh, he failed to live up to the same lawmen he talked about intially, and that he was left only for judgement. Whereas Chigurh, the villian, was true to his word and able to gain some sort of closure from the situation, Sheriff Bell gained none.

Edited March 8, 2008 by PunkRockPete