The Dismal Tide

Tim Berroth

Echoing the words of Solomon the Preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes, rugged Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (a name almost as good as the actor who portrays him: Tommy Lee Jones) studies the barren landscape of Texas and finds nothing but hopelessness. The fact that the terrain he observes is littered with the bullet-riddled bodies of drug runners, the result of a botched deal, only adds to his despair. The sight of a dead dog at the scene is evidence that evil exists and it spares no creature in its path. Based on the best-selling novel by Cormac McCarthy and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men is a masterful piece of storytelling.
Hours before Sheriff Bell came upon the crime scene, a lone antelope hunter Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin in his third brilliant performance of the fall) had stumbled upon it and made off with a suitcase of $2 million—and invited upon himself the wrath of a ruthless madman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Like an angel of death, Chigurh relentlessly pursues Moss, laying waste to any soul who steps in his path. Armed with a silent cattlegun, sporting a freakish haircut and soulless eyes as black as death, Chigurh is a terrifying presence. The minute Moss takes the cash, he knows he has sealed his fate, muttering under his breath the stupidity of his act—the black clouds of an impending storm only foreshadow his destiny.
The intense cat-and-mouse pursuit of Moss is magnified by long stretches of eerie silence, the masterful use of light and shadow and the truly horrifying sequences of mental torture by Chigurh as he toys with his victims. His interrogation of a gas station attendant is a scene for the ages—your heart will race along with the poor soul in Chigurh's presence. Deciding the fate of his victim with the flippant toss of a coin, with the sinister request "call it," the Coens give us a glimpse into the heart of darkness that Chirgurh represents.
Sheriff Bell and his fellow law enforcers are always one step behind the works of darkness. Tired, weary and resigned to his ineffectiveness, Bell dutifully does his job. Yet, we are painfully aware that his works are in vain. A third-generation lawman, he visits his frail father who offers him these prophetic words: "you can't stop what's coming." What's coming is what he describes as a "dismal tide"—a wave of darkness and evil so dark that it cannot be contained. In the scope of things, it's bigger than drug dealers and wicked men—even men as wicked as Chigurh.
The utter meaninglessness of it all runs deep through No Country For Old Men. With a chilling end that will frustrate some and exhilarate others, the Coen Brothers and their cast of brilliant actors weave a perfect tale summarized by these words:

The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
—Ecclesisastes 1:6-9