I Don’t Think We’re In Our Twenties Anymore, Toto!

No Country For Old Men (2007)

Ok, I’ll be honest – I didn’t “get” this movie at first. It ends with what seems like a lack of resolution. Or in the famous words of my dad, “I stayed up for THIS?!”

But I watched it again. I HAD to. I mean, it was nominated for EIGHT Academy Awards (aka Oscars)!!! It won four of the eight; including Best Adapted Screenplay (adapted from a novel) and an Oscar for the highly coveted, grand prize award: Best Picture.

Watching it again, I realized that the filmakers had pulled a good ‘ol bait and switch on me. You spend the entire film watching this suspenseful cat and mouse chase, only to realize that the movie isn’t about the cat, the mouse, OR the chase. It’s about the slow, old, limping cat that’s off screen trying to keep up.

Tommy Lee Jones plays Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. He starts the film off telling of how he became a sheriff at age twenty five. He talks about the “old timers”, and how he can’t help but compare himself to them as he wonders how they would operate in this present time. He tells of how he sent a young man to the electric chair. And then he turns his attention to the current crime in play; the cat and mouse chase.

The chase involves a hunter, a hitman, some drug money, and guns. Oh yeah, and there’s Ed Tom Bell somewhere. Always fifteen minutes too late; trying to keep up.

But the chase isn’t the point.

Ed Tom Bell is the focus here. He’s never SEEN a case like this. He became Sheriff at age twenty five. Sent a boy to the electric chair, and he’s been cruising through life ever since. No real challenges. Just driving around. Chillin in coffee shops. Daydreaming about the old timers while he, himself, has gotten old.

It’s almost like he successfully prosecuted one criminal, sent him to the chair, and then fell asleep for the next thirty years or so. But then THIS case comes along and rudely awakens him like a bucket of cold water. It has shaken him to his core.

The cat (hitman) ultimately catches up with the mouse (hunter). Ed Tom Bell discovers the hunter’s dead body. Too late. He failed. He couldn’t stop the bad guy. And he has no idea where he could be.

He’s shook. He ponders retirement as he comes to the realization that life flew by, he’s old, and his methods don’t work any longer. He has become one of the old timers that he so fondly spoke of.

In one scene, he visits his uncle Ellis, and he tells him everything that’s on his mind. His uncle replies unsympathetically, “Whatcha got ain’t nothin new, this country’s hard on people… You can’t stop what’s comin. It ain’t all waitin on YOU… That’s vanity.”

…That’s vanity…

So old Ed Tom Bell retires. Maybe he thought he was still twenty five years old. Maybe he thought he was more skilled than he actually was. No matter. The bad guy, the hitman, the cat, gets away. The hunter, the guy in over his head, the mouse, is dead. And the former sheriff sits in his kitchen, not knowing how to spend his days now. He tells of a dream he had. A dream about his father who has long passed. A dream that reminds him that he’s not too far behind his father. But he’s comforted that his father rides before him, and that he has built a fire for them in the darkness and in the cold. And that whenever he gets there, his father will be there. And then he wakes up.

He’s not twenty five anymore.

Oh, how time flies, huh? I’m convinced that if time were a person. Time would be a ninja. Constantly creeping up behind you. Hiding in the shadows. Next thing you know – the ninja has one hand on the back of your head and one hand on your chin. CRRACK! He’s snapped your neck. Geez, I know!

Or is time a thief? Like one of my favorite artists, k-os, says, “Time is a theif that leaves nothing behind…”

Maybe a ninja that thieves? Anyway…

What does this all mean to you? I know what it means to me. Have I been vain in the way I perceive time? Definitely. Do I just daydream? Kick it in coffee shops? Feel fulfilled by one or two past accomplishments? Yeah.

Maybe I’m more Ed Tom Bell than anybody else reading this, but I think we can all pull something from this.

At the beginning of the film, Ed Tom Bell says, “I don't want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don't understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He'd have to say, "O.K., I'll be part of this world."” Will we ever be ready? What are we waiting for? We’re already walking this Earth - might as well jump in. Time to get hazardous…

In Ecclesiastes 12, the teacher/thinker/philosopher concludes his experiment by reminding us to enjoy and honor our Creator before we grow old (or older). Enjoy. Honor. Enjoy and Honor. Think about it. These two words wrap it ALL up.

Ecclesiastes 12 (The Message Bible)

1-2 Honor and enjoy your Creator while you're still young, Before the years take their toll and your vigor wanes, Before your vision dims and the world blurs And the winter years keep you close to the fire.

3-5 In old age, your body no longer serves you so well. Muscles slacken, grip weakens, joints stiffen. The shades are pulled down on the world. You can't come and go at will. Things grind to a halt. The hum of the household fades away. You are wakened now by bird-song. Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past. Even a stroll down the road has its terrors. Your hair turns apple-blossom white, Adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body. Yes, you're well on your way to eternal rest, While your friends make plans for your funeral.

6-7 Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends. The body is put back in the same ground it came from. The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.

- Eli