11.27.2007

Bloodworthy
















Iffin' ya'll ain't seen No Country for Old Men, git thee to a the-ater afore the week closes out.

The famous brothers Coen took Cormac McCarthy's searing tale of an inexorable evil let loose on our time, and threw it up on the wide screen so you can't escape it.

Ain't even no point in sinkin' low in yore seat...too late, ya feel in yore marrow.

T'is a preview for the world thas' a'comin soon to a neighborhood near yores.

Mayhap youse one of the ones who done felt he ground under ya tremor a bit, but ya jes' thought, "Naw, it cain't be. I must'a eaten somethin' funny."

When "good ole boy" Llewellyn Moss (His name means "lion-like) was out huntin' game he came up on a busted drug deal, a heap o' shot up Mexicans and one dyin' soul who was thirstier'n hell.

No piker, Lew (Josh Brolin) seen thar' was truckload of heroin an was smart enough to cover
it up again and walk on. But when he found the money man dead under a tree, Lew took to cash--and the modern Chorus chants, "wouldn't you?" But as they say, "He set off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence..."

In twenty-four hours the chase is on...the inhuman pursuit is presaged by the hounds of hell--the pit bull scene (Check out She-9's review) whar' the killing machine dawg foreshadows the killing machine assassin to come.

Out in the desert, thangs cain't hide, “This country is hard on people" ... Cormac McCarthy set his tale of modern horror on a clear plain, whar' the reader/viewer is forced to "plainly" see what is comin'. So does a Ed Tom Bell, the "good ole boy" Sheriff, played by Tommy Lee Jones. At the opening the voice of Sheriff Bell is heard puzzling over a death row rapist killer who'd said "He always knew he would kill, and would do it again, given the opportunity." And he muses over callous urban killers who buried old folks in the back yard and stole their social security and "nobody took note" until one of the victims ran from the house wearing nuthin' but a dog collar.

This crusty border sheriff, hopin' to save a foolish Llewellyn from the savagery to come, realizes this is no ordinary foe: "I'd never seen a person like that and it got me to wonderin if maybe he was some new kind."

Yep, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell reads trail like a pro, but this here is a trail that he ain't never seen in 30 years of of law enforcement. An' he's spooked.

Sheriff Bell* "Somewhere out there is a true and living prophet of destruction and I don't want to confront him. I have seen his work."

To the modern world blind to real evil, No Country jerks the viewer's smug assurance to attention. In disbelievin' shock, a bicycling boy cries, "Mister, ya' got a bone stickin' outa yore arm.. hey Mister, ya got a bone stickin' outa yore arm...hey Mister? But his 12 year old buddy is willing to make deal with the bone-man. Oh! the blindness of those who will not see--even if a bone be stickin' outa an arm.

Some sheeple innocently encounter the menace of assassin Anton Chigurh casually totin' a gas powered cattle gun for killin' his prey.... these naive dolts don't recognize their fate: Innocence is no defense to the evil among us. When a feckless gas attendant gets a whiff of the apocalypse the Machine is amused,

"Is that what you're asking me? 'Is there something wrong with anything?' "

Javirer Bardum
turns in a riveting performance as the maniacal stalker, utterly smashing through the hashed over, Lex Luthor-ish bogey-men of Hollywood's stock caricatures.

Llewellyn, to his credit, finally does understand. It won't do to simply give the money back. The battle must be fought since evil ain't ever pacified--evil was invited and evil will come. Let the carnage begin.

There are moments of black humor, but this ain't no standard date night. However, plan to go somewhere for a stiff night cap (youse gonna need it!) an' talk over the question Cormac asks: Has our disbelievin' age grown so easy wif' moral ambiguity that we's opened a crack in the universe, an now some unchained evil prototype done slithered through? If so, how are we goin' to meet the oncoming darkness rollin' in off the plain?

Aunty won't spoil the end, but let's meet back here on Monday and see if we'uns can figger out what it means.


That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees--
Those dying generations -- at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
~~~~~~William Butler Yeats



Sheriff "Bell":

From John Donne:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself...
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.


"Devotions upon Emergent Occasions" (1623), XVII: Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris - "Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die." PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.

21 comments:

sparringK9 said...

excellent aunty.

i didnt know the poem but i sure do understand its admonition. that monologue of TLJ's at the beginning was lovely bit of un PC truth. i guess that particular killer didnt have anyone to step in and say "he doesnt mean what he says. what he really means is it is because of poverty, or class, or governemtn failure, or christian oppression that is to blame for my sorry behavior"

sound familiar? kinda like on the back poarch???? islam is a religion of peace! pay no attention to that imam on the tape! grrrherherhahaha

as to the post movie discussion...it extended into our day 2 even...seems it came into mr shes dreamlife. ya ever hear anybody thinkin about "pirates of the carribean" 3 seconds past the credits? aint nuthing to think about.

we will have to get together and talk more of this situation, and McCarthy...i have not read the road or blood meridian as you recommended in the yard. i will be in CenFla...coming to a Christmas near you.

great review...hope we can gets a discussion rollin on this fine topic of the general situation of evil in this world.

Jenny said...

This is the third positive review I've read of this movie (She was the first) so I'm GOING THIS WEEKEND Y'ALL. It's been a long time since I've seen a good movie.

Thanks for the "push".

Jenny said...

P.S. I've printed out your review and She's - you both are great writers. I love the poems you've added.

h said...

Go see "Bella". Quit supporting those who hate 89% of America. I.E. Tommy Lee (3 Burials and Valley of Lehar) Jonesy.

sparringK9 said...

i know artful...i was wondering about that. how he TLJ happened to be in that film. i do want to see bella.

moi said...

Ja, between you and She, the spousal unit and I have a date to see this this weekend. BTW, I loves me some good Yeats. Haven't visited that one in a while.

h said...

She,

He's IN those because certain people pay him large sums of money to see his Coen Brother's films.

And he takes that money and FINANCES the leftist trash stuff he really adores that doesn't make a profit. But is used by jihadists and maoists for child-indoctrination purposes.

Certain people.

Aunty Belle said...

Thanky thanky She-pup. Yeah, TLJ lays it out..early on he says (not a verbatim quote, but to the effect):

"I doan wanna push my chips to the middle of the table and go out to meet somethin' I doan understand...a man has to risk his very soul to say 'okay, Im 'gonin' to be part of this world."

I been thinkin' on the dawg angle--notice how they come up to the drug massacre in the dessert--and 8 humans is fly bait, but the deputy says "Aw, gee they shot the dawg'. Then later the bad guys come on the same scene--again, the fate of humans meant nuthin' , But, "aw gee, they shot the dog"

Aunty Belle said...

Anon Boxer, darlin' thanky fer yore compliments--glad you like the writin' (even in cracker speak??). An' thanky too fer the poetry note--seems to me it condenses the wisdom --

Hey Moi, great--after a sees it come tell us what's yore take on it. One thang I noticed was how they warn't no music, overture--jes' the wind, thunder, truck rumbles...

Aw, dang dang dang it!!!! Artful, is that true about TLJ?? I ain't seen no Geroge clooney film on account of I cain't stand his stand on tahngs--gag.

But TLJ?? Drast---does ya think he learned somethin' in the one? How can ya miss?

I is SOOOO anxious to see what ya'll think is the meanin', the theme of this movie....

On Bella--yea, a good story, endearing and worth supporting, ....and its topic is one I cares about...BUT, hate to say, it is --from the standpoint of art---it is too sentimental.

If ya really wanna see a fine fine movie, t you'll need to really pay attention to catch all the visual clues ---there is a wonderful subtext.

darkfoam said...

sounds like i need to go find a babysitter so hubs and i can go see this one. no holiday movie for a 10 year old i take it? :)

h said...

Aunty,

If anything, Al Gore's former roommate Tommy Jones is MORE of a hate-filled leftist freak than Clooney.

The fact that he FINANCED "3 Burials" and "Valley" are just the latest examples.

He's been a MAJOR donor to the very worst sort of Anti-American causes for several decades. FAR longer than Clooney.

Aunty Belle said...

Hey Foamy--no Sugar Pie, this here ain't no movie fer anybody under 30 I'd say--the 20s ain't seen enough real life yet to have sufficient context. The violence is never gratuitious, it is starkly accurate to the world it portrays...and all of us'uns had some part in buildin' this world.

By the time Sheriff Bell says "When people stopped saying "Sir" and "M'am" it were over" you realize how small things unravel into a big hairy mess.


An' lemme add that I doan reccommed this movie to some older folks I knows--I got a sis what wouldn't do well wif this a'tall.

But iffin' ya really appreciates a movie made wif skill, restraint and a certain wisdom about human frailites, an the willingness to treat them frailities honestly, then this is good art.

Artful, I'se sick--SICK, over this piece of info. Mebbe Cormac will set him straight--I heered they became buddies durin' the filmin' and Cormac ain't a lib.

But this makes me SICK...Aunty mayhap might need to look into this thang.

h said...

Aunty,

Use search terms, "TLJ and Weathermen Movement". "TLJ and Al Gore". "TLJ and Florida Election" "TLJ and Spouse Abuse".

You'll have to filter out a lot of stupid movie reviews but eventually you'll see he's been a Treasonous Adulterous Scumbag since his college days.

Aunty Belle said...

Artful, iffin' all you say is true..I'se gonna see to it that the point is made in the wider world...jes' standby. I got a few contacts here and thar'.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

LOL>>>did you think any movies could be made with only the Republican right for actors?

h said...

Anon Coward,

A better question might be:

Why in a Nation where 97% of the citizens identify themselves as Conservative, Moderate or Liberal do so many films star talentless far-left freaks?

Most of whom, Penn, Fonda, Clooney, Fonda, Sutherland, Fonda,Robbins, Fonda, etc... owe their entire careers to nepotism.

Anonymous said...

to artfulsub: thats right. lib courage in action as "anon" grrrherhahaha

and looking at the educational backgrounds of some these actors, its astounding they presume to educate us on world affairs. they think the movies are reality! but as i have said, their causes are often a theatre for them to showcase their compassion.

there was a piece on FOX (that's right haters, FOX) about conservatives in hollywood...you want to talk about intolerance? its the left who blackball conservative hollywood. adam sandler though has come "out" unrepentant. maybe others will follow suit.

-she

Anonymous said...

I will be seeing this on Sunday.

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