No Country For Old Men

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Just got around to watching it and i think i liked it. Just a little unclear about the ending. Was Suger(sp?) in the hotel room when Tommy Lee Jones went back into it? What did tommy lee jones dreams at the end mean?

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As to whether or not the killer (Chigurh) was in the room when Jones went back, the movie was unclear, but I read the book and in the book the Chigurh is not in the room. He's long gone.

The dream at the end is about Sheriff Bell and his role as a son and as a lawman like his father and grandfather. His father died as a lawman at an age younger than Bell is now. Bell decides to retire and not join his father prematurely, but he will inevitably join him one day. In the dream, his father passed by him out into the darkness, already dead, and he's waiting for Bell to join him by the fire out in that vast unknown of whatever comes after life.


Here's a longer explanation from another sourse:

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The two dreams can be seen as expressions of what Bell is struggling with throughout the course of the story and the change of perspective that allows him to come to terms with his struggle.

In the first dream he says his father entrusted him with some money, but he (Bell) lost it. This can be seen as Bell feeling as if he was entrusted with a responsibility and has failed to uphold it. His failure to keep and protect something valuable like the money is analogous to his failure as a law enforcement officer to protect people like Moss and Carla Jean, other civilians, and to make a significant impact on crime in general. This dream explains what is troubling him and that he feels or is afraid that he may be a failure. Because his father is mentioned explicitly it is likely that he may feel he has failed his father, who was also a law-man, on a personal level.

The second dream is a reconciliation of the problem from the first. In the second dream, he says he and his father were riding through the mountains in the old times. His father rode up ahead of him and went on into the cold and dark with some fire. Bell said that he knew when he got to where his father was going, his father would be there waiting for him.

This indicates that Bell realizes that his father is waiting for him nonetheless, whether he is a failure or not. The dark and cold would represent the real world and the fire represents comfort, protection and hope. His father carries it onward, and Bell knows he will be waiting with it for him when he gets there himself. The dream seems to be an acknowledgement of the state of the world and bleak reality. Bell cannot change that state or leave it, just as his father was also unable to do. But he is able to take comfort in knowing that his father is waiting there for him with a source of comfort, a source of light and heat in all that dark and cold.

The second dream indicates that Bell has come to a realization, at least on some level, of the concept that Ellis spoke of in their earlier conversation. Ellis says, "Whatcha got ain't nothin new. This country's hard on people. You can't stop what's coming; it ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity," meaning that Bell can not expect himself to succeed at the standard to which he has held himself, and so it is unreasonable to do so. Bell felt compelled to continue past a reasonable age and into unmanagable situations in order to uphold the responsibility he felt had been passed down to him. When he realizes he can't do this he feels overmatched, and quits by retiring. He had tasked himself with the impossible (in an attempt to live up to his father, or previous law-men, etc.) and blamed himself for failing to succeed. Bell may not realize it consciously yet, but the dreams show that on some level, after his talk with Ellis, he realized that the world had always been this way and always would be (dark and cold), but that there are sources of refuge and comfort waiting for him.

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Anything with Woody Harrelson in it is worth watching. He is a great actor.

I'm still laughing at how no one seemed to have heard the big wreck and the end.

and

I'm still wondering how we're supposed to assume that no one saw a busted up and hurt man like Chigurh walking down a quiet neighborhood.

Worst ending to a drama EVER.

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Was Suger(sp?) in the hotel room when Tommy Lee Jones went back into it?

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I actually re-watched it the other day and have concluded he wasn't in the room. I never read the book, but there's physically no way Chigurh could have made it from behind the door, across the room and out the bathroom window without making a noise enough for Bell to hear from right outside. I think the editing makes us almost believe they could be next to each other. You can see the light shift through the lock hole on Chigurh's side of the door. But I think this is done in part to mirror the scene earlier when Bell just misses Chigurh in Moss's place. It could also represent, though Bell viewed himself as a "failure," just how close he was to actually catching up to Chigurh and that he really has been more than adequate in striving to achieve the impossible task of protecting the "innocent" from "all that dark and all that cold" in the world.

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I'm still wondering how we're supposed to assume that no one saw a busted up and hurt man like Chigurh walking down a quiet neighborhood. Worst ending to a drama EVER.

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And Star Wars is far-fetched.

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Good grief, captain literal. Give it a little more thought, and if you think this is the worst ending to a drama ever... you don't watch enough movies. Did you want the happy ending?

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The movie could have ended as soon as Chigurh walked out of Moss' girlfriend's house. The wreck scene was unnecessary. I understand the wreck was supposed to show that "evil can be slowed down, but not stopped". I didn't need that symbolism to tell me that. It was a little unrealistic in my opinion. No one heard the crash? No one saw Chigurh walking down the road?

Again, the credits could have rolled as soon as Chigurh walked out of the house.

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It was a little unrealistic in my opinion. No one heard the crash? No one saw Chigurh walking down the road?

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Do you even enjoy movies? Stop trying to overthink a scene by putting logic to it. IT'S A frickING MOVIE. Have you ever watched Terminator and said "My gosh this movie is terrible it's so unrealistic." What makes this one different?

I agree with this. Generally literary mechanisms do not translate well to the screen. This movie tried to but kinda came up short. The characters were so well written that the movie held up on that alone.

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Do you even enjoy movies? Stop trying to overthink a scene by putting logic to it. IT'S A frickING MOVIE. Have you ever watched Terminator and said "My gosh this movie is terrible it's so unrealistic." What makes this one different?

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Terrible comparison right there. No Country for Old Men is a drama....Terminator is science fiction.

That's like comparing Gone With the Wind to Star Wars

I enjoy movies big time, but when I watch a serious and realistic drama, I expect it to stay that way all the way through. In sci-fi movies, I expect fake sh!t to happen. In action/adventure movies, I expect the focus to be on action instead of acting and storylines.

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Coen Brothers

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Speaking of them, have you seen their new movie, A Serious Man?