Lebowski goes on a circuitous adventure unchanged and none the wiser despite the chaos and havoc around him, "TBL" has so many memorable scenes and plot points that just take us back right where we started with no lessons learned. What differs is that his father happened to be the Sheriff of a town on the rise and he happened to be the Sheriff of a town on the decline. Where are the two places Moss hides the briefcase? Hard to believe. Art Gallery of New South Wales. In sum, I think the dream represents how he views the tradition he and his father belong to. But the world did change out from under him and his father, and much of that was outside of their control or purview. Playing Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, Jones is the film's lone guiding force of morality, searching for meaning in a world without hope. In the story, old tribes used to take their two best warriors and put them through an endurance challenge to see who would become the next tribal leader. Bell speaks about a nineteen-year-old man who is on his way to the gas chamber because of Bell’s testimony. His greatest fears are wrapped up in this dream. The story goes like this, one warrior selfishly focuses on his own race, and when he comes upon three different tribe members on his run, he doesn't stop to help them because he's so focused on returning with the hot coals in his horn. I was taught it at multiple summer camps, and have seen it told on plaques in Native American Museums as a fable/myth. When Sheriff Ed Tom Bell opens the movie with a monologue, he discusses how he was made Sheriff at 25. The crime you see now, it’s hard to even take its measure. The novel opens with a monologue from protagonist Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, detailing an experience from his time as a sheriff. That character has become a fully grown being, and edged out the older men who's acts of violence and terror that were at the time considered unspeakable, and today almost laughably tame or novice. The ending scene where Tommy Lee Jones explains in the story the evil/crime his uncle or something (Ellis being paralyzed) witnessed and suffered from decades ago - to me I saw this as a brilliant example of the Coen Brothers pulling the rug out from under us. This was a strange movie to me, and left me with a train of thoughts. It’s peculiar. Ed Tom Bell : I was sheriff of this county when I was twenty-five years old. The whole movie is crafting the narrative (pushed by the Sheriff himself) that the world has changed and that this new evil is something he's ill equipped to deal with. Ed Tom sees the venting removed from the air shaft, which in this motel but not the others, is located, (conveniently I would add), at his eye level, where he lies on the floor. The dream is a metaphor for his worldview changing, when he was younger he belived in good and evil but as he grew older he came to the realization that it isn't that simple and that isn't how the world works. The Sheriffs of the Wild West were like the good Chief in the fable, both in their attributes and the solemn duty that rested on their shoulders. Any lessons you learn are your own and incidental to any intention to the film makers. The country started going to hell, according to the book's thoughtful narrator, Sherriff Ed Tom Bell. He was chosen by the elders of the police force, and by his community, all of whom he knows. Excellent analysis. Can’t help but wonder how they would’ve operated these times. Even the nihilist kraut rockers in "The Big Lebowski". By Cormac McCarthy. Even then, crimes occurred and people were hurt. It’s not that I’m afraid of it. In other Coen films, you're just left with s bleaker lack of definition or finality ("A Serious Man", "NCFOM"). Either to poke fun at the characters pining for meaning in their actions. Close. Another tangential idea is a line I can't quite remember from The Road--something to the effect of 'once the last living thing on earth has died, so too will Death itself'. Early in the movie, he describes Ellis' being shot and paralyzed in a story to Lewllyn's wife. written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen. The recurring theme of Coen Bros. movies is that there is no deeper theme to them. Over the course of the film, we see his slow realization that he was either not the right choice for the job because villainy gets into his world, or that it was going to happen anyway, and there was nothing anyone could do about it in the first place. He represents WW2 era heroes, where evil and good was black and white, and Chigurh and Moss are from Vietnam where they had to invent their own moral codes. I had just finished reading 'The Road' in the weeks prior to seeing No Country and also felt, as you do, that having those motifs fresh in my mind added quite a lot of substance to the film. He definitely hasn't succeeded at dealing with the changing world he opines about in the opening monologue. Some of … Maybe the face has changed but the evil chigurh represents has always been around, it's the same thing that Ellis faced and was paralyzed from. The relevance of this right now is unappreciated by most people, I think. I was sheriff of this county when I was twenty-five. - I don't know. Said that if they turned him out he’d do it again. Did he do a good job? We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Gallery stands, the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. Had dreams. Some of the old-time sheriffs never even wore a gun. The book opens with a two-page monologue, with McCarthy's idiosyncratic use of apostrophes, as the sherriff muses to himself about the one boy he sent to the gas chamber: "They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Ed Tom Bell:I was sheriff of this county when I was twenty-five years old. Either he failed because he didn't heed his father's example but doesn't know exactly what he did wrong (the dream where he borrows money and loses it), or the age of the Sheriff-as-Chief died with his father. He wasn't put through any strenuous test to see if he could handle being a capable chief/sheriff. Tommy Lee Jones as Ed Tom Bell in a dramatic male monologue from the film No Country For Old Men, 2007 If Chigurh is a bad guy, and Llewelyn Moss is a neutral guy, then Sheriff Bell is the good guy of the story by default. Everyone with well laid plans end up being skewered by a random and uncaring universe. The sheriff of Terrell County, Texas, and protagonist of the novel, Ed Tom Bell struggles to adapt to a changing world where senseless violence, greed, and corruption have become the norm. There's a certain tribal element about his speech. Bell is left with the same lack of answers at the end of his story but he, sadly, is self-aware enough to be stuck in an existential crisis. Chigurh was an anomaly. Two monologues from the great Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, a stoic, exhausted Texas sheriff in this Coen Brothers adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel. I think he's wrestling with the fact that, if the world is as violent and full of evil as ever, two things follow from the events of the story. Thank you for sharing this with us. "NCFOM" is a masterpiece of tension (the radio tracker, the hiding of the cash in the air vent) but with no "moral" other than the joy of watching a well crafted movie. The sheriff is totally outmatched in this story. He puts coals on the ground and builds fires for each of them. Told me that he’d been planning to kill somebody for about as long as he could remember. Hard to believe. However I've always thought of the ending of No Country for Old Men as Ed Tom Bell contemplating the universe and his place in it, eventually coming to the conclusion that there is no good and no evil, just the randomness and chance of the universe. A lot of those dreamy ideas from the film are more explicitly visited in 'The Road' and the one provides a nice commentary on the other. Gaston Boykins wouldn’t wear one. I was always a little confused about the ending of No Country, thank you for posting about the Native American story! He's seen the same things I've seen, and it's certainly made an impression on me. Better not. Plano experienced particularly massive growth during the 1960's - 1980's, which would have been the time of his father's tenure as Sheriff. He was picked at a young age to succeed the retiring sheriff who hadn't had much trouble during his tenure as Chief. The first is the opening monologue about the changing world and how he fits in it on the eve of his retirement. Ed Tom Bell: It starts when you begin to overlook bad manners. In the end this was a story with no good guys. I would just like to add that in other McCarthy works, "the fire/light" and the judgement of ancestors are also present plot points. They boldly say there are no lessons to be learned at the end of "Burn After Reading". Said he knew he was going to hell. He returns home fed and warmed by the gifted blanket, with his horn full of fire. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell Bell, Jarred. Ellis : What you got ain't nothin' new. I believe that old native american tale is a reference point for Cormac McCarthy at the end of No Country for Old Men. The only good guy is afraid, and the worse of the bad guys win. But that last scene tells us, it's not the world that's changed, there's always been unfathomable evil and bad in this world. In small Texas border towns like this one, everyone knows each other. Both had my father in ’em. There is a very famous native american story/fable that has been around this country for centuries. So the question he seems to be grappling with at the end of the film (along with a crumbling of his belief in a sense of order to the universe) is whether he failed as a Sheriff, whether he would have failed if he were a younger man (or his father), or whether he did a fine job but being a small-town Sheriff in the mold of the lawmen of the young West no longer had value. I think I have a good bead on it now. Had dreams… Two of ’em. Against what? Anton Chigurh does not operate in a sense of good and evil but rather chance (think of when he let the fate of the corner store owner up to a coin toss), he represents the universe and its randomness. There was this boy I sent to Huntsville here a while back. when they stop to help people, and the father always replies something to the effect of "that's right". I always liked to hear about the old- timers. Though it is a dream for Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, the stories connect, and in his dream, Bell sees his father pass him by on horseback with a horn full of fire and the blanket around his back, and says, "as the old-timers used to do." They always is to the party concerned. Be there in about fifteen minutes. I don’t know what to make of that. (210). His father was the Sheriff of Plano, which transitioned from being farming country to being one of the most affluent suburbs of Dallas, with a population of just under 300,000 people, during the second half of the 20th Century. This country's hard on people. My arrest and my testimony. Each time, the second warrior picks up new hot coals from each fire, keeping the fire in his horn lit. - I mean, would you care to join me? Ed Tom, I'll be polite. Bell is a man of faith who values ethics, morality, and honesty, but finds it increasingly difficult to effectively do his job in the face of the heinous violence he confronts in U.S. society. Ed Tom Bell’s monologue about his dreams in the end — it’s taken from the novel, 11:03 too. My grandfather was a lawman; father too. This film is split across three major discussions by Chief Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones). - Maybe I'll help out here then. I will argue that these monologues prove that Sheriff Ed Tom Bell’s past occurrences influence his current fear of the digression of the society in which he lives. The movie begins with Chief Ed Tom Bell's existential crisis about whether or not he has been a good sheriff, a good man, a good husband, and whether he was the right man for the job in this lineage of law enforcement when Anton Chigurh comes to town. 11:04 In an interview with Oprah, Cormac McCarthy explained his … Nigger Hoskins over in Batrop County knowed everybody’s phone number off by heart. Ain't all waiting on you. I skip now toward the end of the movie to his second meaningful discussion, beyond the other conversations with Lewllyn's wife, or even his deputies. Ed Tom Bell : That man that shot you died in prison. Up in Commanche County. In the monologue that ends the film, the sheriff is on his first morning of retirement and wonders what he ought to do with his time now that he has willingly given up his role at Chief/Sheriff. You can say it’s my job to fight it but I don’t know what it is anymore. He's seen the face of true evil before, and served it justice. He didn't just fail, he had almost no influence whatsoever on the outcome. Ed Tom Bell: I … Chigurh has taken the bleak realities that so disturb Bell and embraced them, sculpting them into new values. The texture and the color of the carpet bleeds, as Ed Tom does, into the forlorn landscape at the ramshackle ranch with the stilled windmill, leading us to the origin of the first dream, which is where we meet Ellis. McCarthy wrote the novel in 2005, so I don't suspect this particular contrast was an accident. One could say: "Metafore of life". Do you think that your fathers are watching? … Bell is haunted by his actions in World War II, leaving his unit to die, for which he received a Bronze Star. Should he have had it in the first place, or did the elders/community make the wrong choice in choosing him? used a Maguffin of an indecisive studio boss to film a musical/cowboy/sword & sandal/swim extravaganza. Dramatic Monologue for Men - Tommy Lee Jones as Ed Tom Bell in No Country For Old Men. In the dream Ed Tom's father is lighting the fire against evil and Ed Tom always figured that he would/was doing the same but eventually he grew old, 20 years older than the man who once was able to fight against evil. - Lord, no, I'm not retired. Never missed a chance to do so. When Ed Tom crosses paths with Chigurh he automatically thinks of him as and evil person as he has always thought of the world and universe this way. We use cookies on our websites for a number of purposes, including analytics and performance, functionality and advertising. I recently rewatched No Country, and I had always wondered what Chief Ed Tom Bell's dreams meant in the context of the rest of the story. Thus the title 'No Country for Old Men'. In the opening of another Coen brothers’ film, The Big Lebowski, The Dude is described as “a man for his time and place.” Much the same could be said of Chigurh. "This contry is hard on people.... You can't stop what's comin. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell in No Country for Old Men. The police chiefs/sheriffs are protectors of law and order, who are willing to give their lives to the community for its safety, and he ends the monologue saying the role may even take one's soul. You can’t help but compare yourself against the old timers. Not in that evil like his has never existed, but rather that it did not grow in Bell's back yard. But it's hard to tell someone that they are wrong about personal feelings or themes they get from a movie. Old-time Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) gave his weary observation (in voice-over) about the lack of value of human life during the opening images of the film: I was Sheriff of this county when I was 25 years old. Throughout the novel, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, uses monologues to express his feelings, recount on the past, and foreshadow as to what will happen in the future. The Dude, unburdened by any self-awareness just bowls another round. And then I woke up." Read along to Ed Tom Bell’s (Tommy Lee Jones) opening monologue below clip. He says that his father and grandfather had been sheriff before him, and that he was even Sheriff while his father was still Sheriff over in Plano, Texas, at the same time, and he believed it … The cat and mouse game between Chigurh and Moss played itself out despite his actions, and despite his best application of his trade. However as the events of the film play out Ed Tom comes to the realization that Chigurh and by extension the universe cannot be thought of in terms of good and evil. It's been a little bit since I've seen the movie (I think I'm going to watch it again this week after reading your post though!). That the younger Jim. The warriors had to carry fire/coals in a horn and run all day. At the time the story takes place, Dryden had a population of around 20 people. (196), I think maybe they are watching. More than that, I don’t want to know. Is the movie about the old generation, the new generation, or the violence that echoes out of them both? It ain't all waiting on you. Bell is dismayed by what he reads in the papers: killing sprees, mothers who murder their children, teenagers with green hair and nose rings. Many people, including non-native speakers, may be unfamiliar with this word. I believe the kid asks the father in The Road a few times "Because we carry the fire?" Yours sort of gets at what I'm trying to say, although not exact but definitely in the same vein. I surely don’t. Was he a good man? Art Set. He is an aging sheriff of a small town in Texas. This begs the question of whether those men were ever even tested in the first place, and would the old-timers have handled the situation in a similar fashion to how Ed Tom Bell is handling Chigurh and the drug money case? At the time, he was young and in his element at the prime of his life. If the coals were still hot at the end of the endurance run, the winner of the race who brought back fire in the horn would become chief. Now in his late 50s, Bell has spent most of his life attempting to make up for the incident when he was a 21-year-old soldier. ... Bell’s monologue isn’t a tone setter for the film as is the following scene when Chigurgh brutally strangles and murders the sheriff’s deputy. Maybe one day, with another viewing or reading, I'll finally be able to mush that putty into a complete thought. The third and final major monologue to close Bell's story takes place at the beginning of his retirement when he tells his wife his dreams about his father as the "fire bringer. Father too. There's almost an element of Ed Tom Bell being picked as a young buck at such a young age by his elders who had seen such peace in their lifetimes they had not properly planned for the former sheriff's retirement until he was just a couple years away from it. You ask me, the light’s winning.” - But is it? This takes multiple threads to follow, including an old Native American legend, so I hope you'll stay with me. For a film as bleak at this one Ed Tom Bell's closing monologue stands out: The two boys helping Anton when he's wounded after a car accident, with one of them giving him the shirt off his back to use to stop the bleeding and intending on doing … Hard to believe. I know I was. - How'd you sleep? Inside: Nothing. "Hail, Caesar!" The town wasn't as safe under his watch as it was when the old-timers didn't even have to carry guns. His books are filled with Native American motifs and themes brought to modern times. Hard to believe. Chief Ed Tom Bell, earlier, says this crime happened 14 years ago. Now, the test that arrives, Anton Chigurh, is too late for an old man on the eve of retirement. McCarthy definitely embodies Death as not really an abstract idea or theme in his work, but as a central and actual character with moods, feelings, wants, needs, growths, and goals. While attempting to acclimate himself to the changing viciousness of modern crime, (he gives a monologue on the subject; in both the book and the movie), he investigates the bloody scene of a drug deal gone bad in the desert. The second (though he has many other conversations about the film's case throughout the movie) is his discussion with Ellis at his house about what he would do if the man who had shot and paralyzed him were released rather than put to death. I agree with what you're saying but had a different takeaway. Edit: Anyways those are my thoughts on it, Thanks for your post I'm excited to watch it again after reading your thoughts! Very well said thank you for posting. If a person comes away from a film with certain emotions, then that film has inspired it, whether the filmmakers intended it or not. Thank you for making me understand this one. Ed Tom Bell is slowly coming to the realization that his protection of his people was not optimal even then, when he was a mature, adult man. The fable is an interesting piece of context, but I think there's more to the interpretation. 170. monologuedb. Or to poke fun at themselves, the Coen Brothers, writers themselves who struggle between simply telling a good story and telling one with ultimate purpose (i.e. - Well, I can't plan your day. Well, you got time for 'em now. Ed Tom Bell is the deutragonist turned main protagonist in No Country For Old Men. While the events of the novel occur in 1980, McCarthy uses Ed Tom Bell's interior monologues to express a former time's sense of values—one that is unaccustomed to the violence of modern America. Archived. 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Dining room table and tells his wife about a dream he had almost no influence whatsoever on outcome... Interesting, as this speech is directly in the county, and the simplicity the... Another viewing or reading, I 'm not retired is an aging sheriff of this.. Do n't think he believes he was n't put through any strenuous test to see if he remember... Same time, the parent mentioned death Sentence our websites for a number of purposes, non-native... The police force, and despite his best application of his trade new coals. About personal feelings or themes they get from a movie a similar monologue told the... Be read in the opening monologue - Tommy Lee Jones ' opener as Ed! No deeper theme to them he received a Bronze Star hell, according to the conflict had! Agree with what you 're saying but had a different takeaway kid asks the father in the monologue...
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