posted by Shelley
Perry and I watched a movie last night on my son’s recommendation called, ‘No Country for Old Men‘ and I’m still shaking my head this morning. (Here’s what it’s all about — warning — this includes a spoiler!) I will take a thriller over a comedy any day of the week, and I love Tommy Lee Jones — I assumed this would entertain me. I was totally unprepared for it (not like you should be required to prepare yourself for a movie like you would a test), and as it ended, I sat for a good 60 seconds watching the credits scroll waiting for the characters to come back to life and finish the movie.
Having watched the flick on my computer, I then start plugging into Google different keywords to search for reviews, thoughts from others …basically anything that would help me digest what I’d seen. I then reviewed the beginning narrative, watched the ending again and read some more. This movie and the actors received numerous awards (it was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and won 4, including best picture), but I felt like I was back in college on some literary assignment.
I understand that our country has progressed to a state that I’m certain is barely recognizable to older generations, and I can grasp the whole good vs. evil thing and consequences for actions. I’m all about the fact that bad things happen to good people and that life isn’t fair — not even to the innocent. No matter how much good one does, there will still be evil out there; and no matter how much evil is in the world, there will still be those who are good and compassionate. Those are facts. In the real world, just as in this movie, innocence is not a shield, and violence is random and uncontrolled. I don’t expect every movie I watch to end with everything tied up in a nice little bow — life is certainly not filled with happy endings; but I do expect to be led a little bit through a plot. Entertain me.
Sometimes I think that pure garbage can be put out there, people analyze it and think it’s brilliant because they conjure all these metaphors and symbols. The writers probably sit back and cackle manically knowing that it was merely a combination of random thoughts spun in their twisted brains to attract those people who are LOOKING for something they can interpret the way they want. Just throw some stuff out there and leave it up for interpretation and make tons of money — money is the root of all evil (in life AND in this movie.) The main evil character used a cattle gun to slaughter victims — I’m sure that means some great thing, but growing up in a slaughter house, the daughter of a butcher, that too is lost on me.
I can’t wait to talk to my son so he can tell me that I’m simply too old and narrow minded (there’s no country for old women either) to grasp it all. 🙂