No Country for Old Men (2007) - Sheriff Bell's dreams (Tommy Lee Jones) 

The is is legit the most faithful book-to-movie adaptations ever made

Is the book a good read, is it better then the movie.

double-o G what I adore about the Cohen brother's films is that they speak to the 'reality' of life with all of it's unpredictability chaos, and uncertainty. The lead in this Tommy Lee Jones, is no closer to finding the truth as when the film began. Fargo Blood simple, and this, best speak to the brother's ability to create real life scenarios, which however outlandish, still speak to a human truth. under duress and panic we make silly decisions. Plans go awry, and random violence is 'random.' For want of a better term. That for me is what makes most of, not all, the Cohen brother's films special. This soon to retire detective didn't even touch the sides of figuring out what was actually going on and is just living a mundane day drinking his coffee and pondering if there is any 'meaning' in his life, or meaning to life at all.

@@patriceaqa288 A Serious Man is also great at addressing this as well. One of my favorites from the Coens

@@jacksonkirke7331 True that's a brilliant film

Beautiful and haunting little touch.

I would have never realized that. That's beautiful thank you for mentioning this.

Blessed are those that can consider the thought of going riding... they just go to the barn and saddle up

Indeed. And hoping he could relive it with his wife; even some sad memories are strangely satisfying.

Wow

Thank you! You took my words from my mouth! This is exactly the way I interpreted. I always get a knot down my throat when watching this scene. Makes me wonder if I'm in the same train as Ed Tom here. All the things I "knew" for certain, the values , the "good" old times. Were they really there?

Excellent take. But, despite this hope of a world which makes sense to him, where his father is, he realizes that’s likely just a dream. Which is why the last words of the movie are “then I woke up”.

No country for old men implies that once old age hits, your surroundings become murky, things you thought you knew and understood well seem to change, but in reality it's the same as ever, it was always chaotic. The elderlies can't keep up with how the world around them is rotating, hence the movie title. Your take very much the same as my dad and I stand by it

@@explosion5022 I hope you get old enough to feel it.

@@explosion5022 I don't think we can't keep up, I think it's the realization that all that we were keeping up with was meaningless. The world is a broken place, and if a good man lives long enough he'll find himself looking at the world and wondering why he ever wasted that time on it.

Agree to disagree. The dream seemed a message that his father is still with him, he even says "I know I'll see him again". Beautifully written.

@@cdb5001 I don't think that at all. His father rode past him in the dream, which would explain that he may have been with him momentarily, but eventually left him alone once again. Compare this to his birth -- his father was there (presumably) when he was born, yet left him in death later in life. He comments that "...in a sense, he's the younger man..." His father may have died much younger than TLJ, allowing him to experience much more "life" than his father did, roughly 20 years more. However, when he begins the 2nd dream, his father still rides beside him, as if he were there before his son, providing fatherly assurance that he will be safe. Once TLJ can "stand on his own" so-to-speak, his father rides past him. He rode into the dark and cold long before TLJ can reach it so that he can pave the way with light and warmth, much like a father does for their sons/daughters. I think it shows that even in death, while TLJ may be older by 20 years, his father still has much more wisdom, and will always be wiser, seeing that he has been there far longer than TLJ. No matter how old you may get, you will always be your father's son.

@@Psychy nice, I can get behind that too. I like both interpretations.

It seems to me that his dreams are about resolving his father's life and eventual death, and how he is following in his father's footsteps. Growing old is often accompanied by a growing sense of one's own mortality. He sees his father's passing as a sacrifice he made so he could go and prepare a place of comfort in a cold, dark place for his son, who comes after him. It is a spark of hope in what was an otherwise hard life. He can make that sacrifice too because he understands it, and his own death becomes symbolic of something bigger. He is coming to terms with his own impending death.

Apparently it was common for elder Native Americans to ride ahead when travelling in the snow at night because they knew the land better. They would carry embers from the fire inside an animal horn with them. So he was taking comfort with the fact that he’ll be with his father again and will no longer have to try to make sense of a world he no longer understands. I read that on another comment so excuse the plagiarism lol

Syed Arham Ali 8bp lol there isn’t a dumb character in this whole movie, just because they don’t use The Queen’s English doesn’t make them unintelligent

@Reunite The British Empire Holy shit. You guys are both morons. Getting into a bigoted argument over the OP's comment on the brilliant use of naturalistic language in the movie/novel. Reunite the British Empire: You're an ignorant racist. Ali: having a regional dialect or using improper grammar doesn't make you unintelligent or indicate a lack of education. Both of you are absolute idiots.

Reunite The British Empire mate you know the slave trade is over in America right it ended about 200 years ago but do you know were slavey is still takeing place some Muslim countrys are still doing it what about your book the Quran yea you love talking about morals so let’s go see the morals in you’re lovely book what about the one were you can and should marry a child when they turn 5 and you can have sex when she turns 9 or how if someone talks down to Islam they shal have there right hand and left foot cut of then walked out in to the dessert to die of how we should cut thieves hands of or how woman are gust men’s property and they should be covered up or how if someone is gay we should kill them or how we should kill infidels yea lovely morals that’s sarcasm

Joshua Sanders agreed but they both did make some points but one thing you can’t be racist to a religion a religion isn’t a race Muslims can be white black asian eny thing so there was no racism because Islam isn’t a race

@@iamevil8582 Reunite the British Empire said "You're an inbred and violent race" so I'm pretty sure he was talking about middle-eastern people and not the religion of Islam. Also Ali said he was an atheist.

Yeah, like that meant anything.

@@coryarnold3369 It didn't AND it did. That's the brilliance of it.

cory arnold If it was described in Cormac’s book or was chosen by the Cohen bros it likely did have meaning.

@@StufiBuy If your home creaked or popped last night as you went to bed,it likely had GREAT meaning.

cory arnold *Mise-en-scène* You do know there’s a difference between life and movies, right? I mean, you do understand these are actors, on a set, portraying fictional characters in a fictional story, correct? Everything is storyboarded, sets are scouted, props are chosen, actors audition, etc. I guess I should break you the good news: Josh Brolin is still alive, yay! Javier Bardem no longer dons a pageboy, yay! You can stop checking under your bed for Anton Chigurh as he’s a fictional character, yay! Now your up to speed with a 4 year old. Attaboy, better late than never!

Shit I had no idea he was gone. RIP. Brilliant writer with a deep understanding of the world.

He got to see how many people loved his art. Not every artist dies with such knowledge.

Great life!! RIP ❤️🙏🏻

+matthew woodall Bergman

Eerie that you can't stop time.....no matter how you feel, where you are, or what you do.....Father Time is always counting the second to your demise.

Where is this clock?

+Popcorn Kernel probably out of frame

goldenboyx92 Thank you. That was the quickest reaction I have ever got on RU-vid. I didn't know what the hell they were talking about.

Keith Higgins well said

I notice almost imperceptible indications of irritation and disappointment. But perhaps my analysis is biased by my preconceived interpretation of the ending’s meaning. See, I take the dream to be a metaphor for ‘passing the torch’. The first dream is only to highlight that he fears his ability to handle responsibility- he lost the money. And so instead of meeting his father in the second dream, he hangs back for the cold to consume him. He fears the responsibility of carrying his father’s torch. Because, while an active relationship with the world (like Moss) might bring its benefits, it forces the world to respond to you, and so it might increase the likelihood that your life will be terminated. Bell knows this, which is why he doesn’t stir up a confrontation with Chigur in the hotel room. But, he feels latently guilty about his cowardice, and justifiably so. His failure to confront Chigur ultimately lead to the death of Moss’s wife, which could have been averted had he acted in that moment. In the end, everything comes down to a coin toss. And none of us have enough information to know which way it is going to go. We can either act, or not, and the outcome might be good or bad, and you just don’t know. But not only in retreating from the world do you not secure safety, you actively fail to decrease the probability of your demise-exemplified when Carla Jean refuses to call Chigur’s coin toss, and unknowingly guarantees her death in that moment. If you choose the path of inaction, your death will come when it comes, and you cannot run from it. Although Moss may have also died, he was the only one to influence the world around him for the better, by injuring Chigur. Ultimately it comes down to the choice of victim or predator. If you do nothing, you are a victim of fate. If you engage with the world, it can go either way, but it may very well go in your favour, and you have to take the gamble for that eventuality to actualise. Or you can end up like Bell, and be a tired, washed-up old man, ridden with guilt, and apologising to his irritated wife for his refusal to carry the torch. And he IS apologising, as much to himself and his father as he is her, whether he is consciously aware of it or not. But it’s okay I suppose, because he can live out the rest of his meaningless existence pontificating on his failure to adapt to and confront chaos, while desperately searching for something to consume the time he has left, which keeps ticking away until his inevitable end. Moss never did get the money, as Bell never did get Chigur, but only one of them affected the world around them, for better or worse; only one of them dared to gamble, and for that reason we see Moss in his last moment cheerily flirting with a poolside girl: the epitome of a man with a clear conscience and a positively charged state of being. Whereas Bell’s final note is a soliloque to his unconscious realisation that he will die a coward: a victim to both his fate and to the entropy which erodes us all. But his personal tragedy is that he didn’t even dare to try and fight it off.

Indeed

Brilliantly articulated by you, mate.

So are you still alive?

That's beautiful. I dream of my late grandmother and grandfather often, unfortunately I can only remember very small bits and pieces of said dreams but they are happy ones and I always wake up feeling consoled.

He is waiting on you to join him in the snow...trust me.

It takes a dialogue like Tommy Lee Jones' at the end of this movie to really make us appreciate how movies can help us to understand our dreams a lot better. Especially dreams of our deceased loved ones, speaking from my own personal experience too.

He'll be there in the outer darkness with fire made of the moon.

Thank Cormac McCarthy

That’s due to McCarthys literal poetic writing style

he refers to the universe - not just earth - but he loses is faith in life after death after he "woke up" . He is more stressed than ever - and worrying about dying and being gone forever

Right. You can actually vidualize his dream and then that last line is just crushing if you think about it.

Yes its like his father is waiting for him now he is old and retired. Really good.

Exactly how I felt. And if u look at his life as a law enforcement officer that is exactly his job, to keep the piece, to intact justice. When it’s so dark and so cold that the ones you love or wish to help end up too far from u to help. All you can do is push on, it feels empty, like you are a quitter a lot like the ending of this movie made some feel. But that’s kind of the idea I think. Personal viewer Acceptance, not a Disney ending for everybody.

Brilliant synopsis.

no, he almost died in his sleep look at his face as he's telling his dream he was near death but he woke up!

The main theme of the film is getting older and weaker, and seeing the world as a harsher place.

Right. Tick-tock...

*Cormac McCarthy

Yea. Its my fav too. "I woke up."

@lias902 You're right. The Cohen brothers did a masterful job of putting his story to screen, especially that final scene.

Well i still fool myself that world isnt that horrified

Imagine being a police officer. You make that a career because you believe you can bring hope into this cold, inhospitable, violent world. But in the end that’s just a dream. It’s time to wake the fuck up.

I always thought him saying “then I woke up” meant more that as much as he believed that the dream meant something and he perhaps might meet his father in the afterworld , the fact that he “woke up” meant that maybe the dream didn’t mean anything and there isn’t anything waiting for us. I thought it was more of a nihilistic statement and he seemed bothered in the end

Trying to change the way the world works or blaming yourself for its failure well, that’s vanity…

I see it as waking from the false hope that you're going to be taken care of. There will be no fire. Just dark and cold.

loved that scene with his friend, I found it a better ending than this one.

@@klisk2 that was his uncle

​@@klisk2 I've found both complement accordingly. At the begginig, he yearns for the past, times were things were "civilized". Uncle story breaks the spell to him, that this unreasonable violence has existed since the olden times. The final scene is the conclusion of this idea: They were no better times, only the nostalgia he kept for them. He was chasing for those better times, until he "woke up", realising they were never there to begin with.

It's a movie, not a show.

The book of Ecclesiastes in a nutshell.

an amazing ending for one of the best movies of the decade, it's kinda depressing too...

a

Clockwork Orange, American Psycho, There will be blood and Se7en. Very nice movie taste, man.

A favorite of mine is "Fuck."

@Prism Man: Eyes wide shut?

I hope your father is still with you (April 2021) and will be for a long time to come.

I lost mine 2 months ago...

@@mrcactuar8515 I'm sorry.

My dad is turning 70 soon and my mom is 58. Im starting to have an existential crisis about losing them.

@@andromedaiscoming185 Thanks. He was 62, died from pneumonia and a bit of medical negligency.

My Dad and I were movie buddies. We would take turn choosing the movie. I chose this one before he passed. I couldn't have picked a better ending with my movie buddy.

I have seen countless better endings than this wtf lmaooo

@@Josh-py9rq To each his own. I prefer endings that are quiet, understated, ambiguous, and as I stated in my original comment, sublime. This ending suited this movie perfectly. Other movies demand different styles of conclusions. For you, loud rock music with explosions (Top Gun Maverick, perhaps) would probably be your first choice. Not making a judgement here.

Completely agree. Gives me chills every time I watch it. Scene for scene my favorite movie of all time

​@@Josh-py9rqso like ... independence day?

Im at the "wtf thats it?" Stage. Better rewatch

@@dirkthedaring5131 You should. Great film.

agree

I’m still at WTF.

Coen bros specialty

ted the commenter i totally agree. Just like when people mention the curb scene from American history X each time the movie pops in a conversation...while the dinner scene is much more powerfull instead. This ending makes you think about life. Every time i watch this scene it seems like time is frozen...just listening to Tommy Lee Jones. Ed Tom doesnt know the exact meaning of the dream...we as a viewer also dont quite get it. But we do share the same feeling. A feeling of sadness but we cant really explain why. Beautiful film.

Ditto, this is the scene I think about the most. As I get older, and people in my life pass me on the trail, I think about it more and more.

Chighur is described differently in the book physically and I can’t get past that. TL Jones was perfectly cast , the scene was perfect because of him and the McCarthy script.

The scene with Ellis is my favorite, with this one being a close second. Barry Corbin’s 5 minutes on screen was fantastic. The way he told the story of his uncle’s murder; masterful!

Try watching se7en. I think that was the greatest ending to any movie ever

When Jesus is your savior & friend, you can rest in the knowledge that He exists outside of time, and you will be with Him for eternity, in a place He has prepared especially for you. Who knows the number of every hair on your head, and have saved every one of your tears in a bottle. So that ticking clock doesn't have to bother you anymore.

@@littlemoccasin5678 Thanks. I know Christ is Lord. I know where I'm going when this life ends. I'm just saying, I'm nearing my end. I'm at peace with that. Knowing it's near has a way of grabbing your attention!

“You can’t stop what’s coming, it ain’t all waiting on you, that’s vanity”

@@littlemoccasin5678 I don't think there is salvation, we just continue on forever until one side wins

I wish you well. Take care. Try to do what you love at least one time a day. We’re all in the same boat. Hang in there…

Of all the explanations this one has meant the most to me... this is my interpretation as well.

Well that one scene puts a whole different spin on the film and this ending. Of course everyone has regrets in life but signalling that this guy has it worse than many adds a lot more weight to the ending. As is (from my memory of the film) the entire 'no country for old men' aspect of the film is a bit throwaway. It's juxtaposed with the mad goings on of the rest of the film but it's hardly the key thread of the piece and making it the grand ending just made the film feel rather flat to me.

Makes me think that there never were better or worse times in the past, nor there will be in the future. There's just times. This movie makes me realize about the realism and harshness of life on itself.

I have thought about reading the book for years, but after reading your post I intend to do just that.

It probably went over most of the voters heads. I'll be honest, the first time i saw the ending, i was 14 at the time and i didnt understand the meaning of it either. So it was great when i saw it again a little later, and i absolutely loved his final speech

Nick Jasper It didn't help him that he was not the primary focus for most of the movie. And Javier Bardem's performance put the Best Supporting Actor category on lockdown. He should have been nominated alongside Bardem, but the committee hates to nominate two people from the same movie in the same category.

Nick Jasper can you explain what he is saying? please

Thirunavukkarasu PB I’m pretty sure that the dream is about an afterlife, heaven, etc. and by saying he woke up, he’s realizing that the afterlife isn’t real. Or at least that’s what it seems like to me, he’s lost his religion

You got to be kidding me

+Jononutoob Well if it consoles you at all, the way I read this ending was that TLJ's father is "fixin to make a fire in all that dark, all that cold", and when he got there he'd be there. I took it as meaning his father is gone, but eventually, when he goes too, he will find him again. (also sorry for your loss and I hope I didn't hurt you anymore)

Sorry for your loss, man.

lost my dad 2 years ago also, hasn't hit me yet. peace brothe

''I knew that whenever I got there he'd be there...''

Me too...I`m gonna join him one day down by the creek...gramma and granddad will be there too.take care my friend.

@QuIgYx you're the prime definition of 'edginess'.

Im sure he was a great man. Sorry for ur loss.

@@enescurobert7725 is that the only comeback people think of when someone says something distasteful? Oooooo edgy

Yeah me too. It really sucks.

@@enescurobert7725 let me guess. It was something sexual?

Phillip D. Lee Yes, that changed it for me, too

I watched this movie for the first time only a week after my dad died.

my father passed a few years before this came out, when i was still a boy. i think you're right in that that kind of loss helps you more clearly see the spiritual nature of what's being described here. time outlasts us all.

Not having a father, this scene only made sense to me after having my son.

I saw it with my dad. 2 years ago, in january my son was born. In april my dad died. Cancer. Pancreas. Fought it for an exact year. He was the best proctologist in the caribbean. Patients even came from the mainland to see him. Puerto rico. He saved thousands of lives in his lifetime. Thousands. We had to hire a pro unit to shred all patient’s records-a room full of them. He was there when my son arrived and got to enjoy him a couple of months before he finally became too ill and weak. The worst experience in my life and one of the worst things any human can witness.

+Marky Mark yeah man one of the biggest (and easiest) mistakes the viewer can do is see this as Llewelyn's story - as him as the main character. That's why he dies so quickly and if you want more out of it then you'll feel grossly dissatisfied. It's kind of a good bad and ugly kind of thing. But make no mistake, it's all about the ugliness of the world and how TLJ's character tries to find a place of comfort or purpose in it all. Like I said, brilliant!

When my grandfather died, I had a succession of dreams where he got weaker and weaker. When you love someone, your mind has a hard time processing what happened.

korlu01 It almost feels like T. L. J. is being filmed in his normal everyday life. Incredible, deserved an Oscar 110%

I wouldn't say Llewellyn is really "good". He's likable, and has good qualities, but he still takes 2 million in drug money from a crime scene. I think Chigurgh is more a personification of fate. He hunts people down not because he likes killing but because he feels compelled to. The coin toss scene really sold that for me. But death is not a bad interpretation either. I doubt anyone other than Cormac McCarthy or the Coen Brothers could say for sure (and even they probably couldn't; such is the nature of literature)

I'm not even sure the Coen brothers know exactly who Chigurgh is.

you'll see him again in this life or the other trust me my man.

he lives on in you, you two are tied together spiritually forever

Losing.

Agree so much. I try to realize not everyone has my background which obviously informs my present. But the emotional satisfaction of this ending is almost even too much for me. I am moved every time by its depth and brevity.

This comment respects vertebrates. Their entrails really want a trustful spinal cord.

@@lunakid12 Just wanted to let you know how fucking hilarious this comment is

Napalm In The Morning you smell good

brilliant analysis.

Beautifully said, but he's a lawman, and he knows he can't save the world. He can't save everybody. He can try, and he did. What law and training prepares you for a freak of nature like Anton Chigurh? He wants to leave, he wants to go join his father, certain that there's light and comfort and companionship waiting for him in that other kind of darkness. He wants to leave because it's no country for old men.

That is not at all how I see the wife’s staring I’m kinda shocked u got that from her stare

The wife is listening very intently

I wish I had a father like that.

I didn't understand this at 23. At 37.this hits hard.

I just watched this at age 23 and loved it.. I gotta rewatch it

It is universal, works anytime, means it is forever good

At 28 now, time and the shortness of life is starting to rear its head in my mind. Life is ultimately ephemeral and transitory. Feels like a pressure but also a reminder to enjoy it.

I'm 21...im just speechless 😶 and scared by what he just said... Because..I know very well what he is feeling.. ( when I was younger I get several dreams of my dad dying in pain) I love my dad very much and he game me birth in his 40 s I was the last of the family..Almost all his sons despite him now because he was himself.. But sometimes you calm yourself down when you get old.. And I think he made me discover the world at his right state... Always make me remember..to get right straight with my life and.. Someday I will die.. And it will cut to black 🖤 nothing.. ☠ No paradise no hell.. Just life in here.. He is 64 years old now.. And I know someday he will die... Sometimes he said he will kill himself nicely because he don't want to get too old to appreciate his life. I respect his choice but sometimes.. I feel this fear.. And sadness you can't heard from Tommy Lee Jones

dicky chunder TMI. Buckle up and show a little damn pride.

@d R Pride has nothing to do with whether or not you (or anyone) thinks they're "better or worse than anyone else." You clearly have terrible low self esteem or are very young. Or both. Conrgats on your new RU-vid account. You must be very proud:)

tahwaggin Or their endings can be wide open and full of possibility...an age of enlightenment...like the one they had in France!

Right?? Like True Grit "I suppose by now the cowlick is gone from his hair. I guess time just catches up with us". They always have super thought provoking finals lines.

Thank Cormac McCarthy for this ending, not the Coen brothers

Very late but I highly recommend a movie they actually star in called Brothers Nest, its ending is...wow. It’s an underrated gem.

Ending of true grit was masterful.

it does also sort of tie in to the plot hehe added bonus

If only they spent more time with this Sheriff so that I actually cared about any of this

@@Johnnysmithy24 no kidding. With a guy like Tommy Lee Jones one would THINK he would have at least had SOME bearing on the plot but we didn't get that here. Here he's treated like some inconsequential extra when the first thirty minutes implied that he'd actually be doing shit in the movie.

@@jeremyallen492 Yeah this is why I didn’t have a very good response when I first saw the movie. I was upset that the main character was killed off camera, and having this be the ending scene felt weird cause I didn’t care about this sheriff, since he barely did anything

His uncle Ellis, told him a story to show how its not a dangerous time. It's always been dangerous times, and him thinking he can stop what's coming is vanity

You're the old man now

4 years later, you're still so very right.

Very fine. Comparable with Once Upon a Time in America, Casino, Heat, Unforgiven, Casablanca, Dirty Harry, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Treasures of the Sierra Madre and The Wages of Fear ( 1953 ). All great endings to motion pictures.

La Haine

one of the most remarkable ÉVER be that underlined and bolded

Don't tell me this is how I find out...

Dammit. This is how I find out.

After reading McCarthy's Blood Meridian, I thought to myself that I would kill to write like that.

If you want a downer of an ending to a movie then check out Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer. More grim than this by a mile. Bitter and ugly.

It seems like a neutral downer. Nothing to devastating, just life going on. Despite the sheriff's failure, he still has loved ones to depend on.

She wasn't. It's about death.

@@cockoffgewgle4993 But when you get down to it, isn't life about death anyways, Cockoff?

that is the most surface level and unoriginal explanation I've ever heard.

@@cockoffgewgle4993life and death are two sides of the same coin not even being smart or witty here

That blank stare.

Not blank. There's wise compassion in her eyes

Yes it's a beautiful older woman's look. She's not sentimental or acting, just listening, because she knows her husband is suffering.

she has no clue what she just heard. she's shone throughout the movie to be a dull, unsympathetic person.

@@plasticweapon I think she's just salty. Doesn't put up with any foolishness. I get what you mean but I think her and Ed Tom being antagonistic towards one another makes sense with the setting like theyre both both no bullshit type people

Yes again

Whit Denton along with HEAT

Yes, but lets not forget Sixth Sense.

are you kidding me

One of the best troll comment in history xD

I get where you're coming from, very relatable. The ordinariness of it, so powerful, particularly when juxtaposed against the extraordinary and jarring violence of Chigur and his world which we've just been witness to. Story writing and film making at it's best.

Agreed. Bardem got a lot of rightful attention. And TLJ was the same level of perfect even if it was a different type of perfect.

Your safe now!🙏 Celebrate & thank you🌅❣️

Off the beat my friend. You’ve done your job.

I retire in one year

We understand sir, thank you for your service and protection

The Road was so fucked up but so good. That said I shouldn't have read it in middle school

cof cof Sopranos cof cof

The ending scene is precisely why I loved this movie and Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy so much.I know the book this is based on is not a part of the trilogy but it fits in really well as a neat little 'side piece' with the other three in terms of setting and tone. I love the ending because it tells us that life does not get wrapped up perfectly or in little neat packages. Shit happens and you don't know why, you'll never know. People are cold and uncaring and there is no answer and there never has been. You ask people and God for the answers and there's no reply because they can't give you one to make sense of the wreckage of life in the first place. The ending of this movie, the entire book (which is also fantastic) and the Border Trilogy are examples of a master writer at the very top of his form who truly makes you ponder the meaning of your very existence and holds a mirror to things that most people would normally strike out of your hands and into the dust. McCarthy makes you sit back and think long and hard on the relationship of life to life, and life to death and the randomness that strikes us in both. So few writers out there these days can accomplish something as masterful as McCarthy is capable of, and the Cohen brothers perfectly executed it on the big screen. People that don't want to examine endings like this and who dismiss them are those that I find myself bypassing for better, stranger company.

in the first dream is about losing his dad's respect...or he think he lost his respect. He has to find him again in that darkness to get it back

chris brooks I don't agree. I'll write a reply later on.

I think it's more simpler than that. Ed Tom losing his dad's money is analogous to him losing sight and capture of Anton Chigurh. The dream just teases him now as he can't forgive himself for that failure. It's a haunting predicament considering that his Uncle Ellis told him that dwelling on past failings only makes it worse, but appears that Ed Tom is condemned to repeat his regret every time he goes to bed.

Same about the 49ers. No country for Colin Kapernick.

Dude this had me rolling.

😂😂😂😂

Shut up idiot

Like you in English class.

To me, "I woke up" means he discovered the grim truth that the reason his father died at the age he did is because that's the implied limit set by the world he lives in. His father is young in his dreams because that's how he died, and he explains that he's 20 years past that age. He sees his father, young, riding forward on his horse. But him? All he can do now is stand still. Because of his age, he's "overmatched" as he explained earlier in the movie. Hence the title, "No Country For Old Men"

+Jesus Christ where's your father by the way?

+Jesus Christ master Kenobi, is that you ?

+Matthew Williams He lived. Unless he's a shapeshifter he's semitic.

+Denis Kreynin Right, but I think what's also implied here is the endurance of the human spirit...This to me, is the other side of the coin. There's an old man who's living this "country" and he has sort of become a philosopher to it. There's also that human effect that McCarthy always puts into his books. Cormac is huge on the human spirit and his father was carrying that fire for both of them to be warm. There is no denial of what he is saying. He's saying that his father is waiting for him in the afterlife and that's what makes this touching. He may have been overmatched, as you put it, but he's looking forward to seeing his father more, and couldn't care less if he died tomorrow because of it.

I felt exactly the same way, well put.

Prometheus gave humans fire and it set us apart from all other living things. He was subjected to eternal torture for doing it. Without a doubt fire is mystical. It can warm a home and destroy it. It represents light and safety in a cold and cruel world. A man carrying the light is akin to good fighting against chaos. At least for me :P Long story short. I agree with you.

Excellent take. I noted that in the road too. To me, with or without religious implication, both works and their imagery of fathers and sons carrying the fire in a world that appears to have gone to hell reminds me inescapably of the first chapter of the Gospel of John where it states “the lights shines in the darkness…and the darkness has not overcome it” But for McCarthy that’s more of an open question of possibility than a clear assertion, at least as I read him.

"The flames sawed in the wind and the embers paled and deepened and paled and deepened like the bloodbeat of some living thing eviscerate upon the ground before them and they watched the fire which does contain within it something of men themselves inasmuch as they are less without it and are divided from their origins and are exiles. For each fire is all fires, and the first fire and the last ever to be." Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy

"mysterious and ancient" yup, i agree with that.

We are the good guys still. We would never eat anyone. We carry the fire.

I see what you did there lol

I never made that connection before. "Carrying the fire" was a phrase used in Cormac Kccarthy's other novel, The Road

Ah a reference from The Road in another Cormac McCarthy story. Nice 🤘😎

The Road. Awesome comment

and ' prisoners' and 'the grey' and 'book of eli': check em out if u havent

***** Interesting parallel to The Grey in that his father features in the last scene as well, also in his mind.

+ShaunFriedman Prisoners too!! Oh my gosh what an ending!!

Yeah no horrible ending tom just sitting there no bad ending good movie bad ending though

How is this considered one of the best endings lmao it’s just an old guy talking about a boring ass dream. I swear anything passes for great cinema these days

Well said. It’s absolute magic